Blackmail
by perfectly flawed woman
Summary: Story on Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

hooray! I've got a new idea in mind.

Just to let you know, this one's AU and OOC ..

I don't wanna stir some confusion here but I don't wanna be a spoiler as well..

Better yet, please read the story and lemme know your comments and suggestions :)

Oh and warning!

This is ShinKai :) hooray for yaoi fans!

Although there will be some lemonxyaoi scenes, I'll still tag this as rated T :)

I'll just set out warnings for chapters with yaoi/smex/yaoi/ yada yada yada :)

i do not own MK|DC:((

all rights reserved to Aoyama sensei! :)

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><p><strong>B L A C K M A I L<strong>

**CHAPTER 1**

_Emotion resulting from a work of art is only of value when it is not obtained by sentimental blackmail._

oOO

If he was going to do this, then he had better get on with it, Kaito told himself firmly. In fact, he had better get on with it _right __now_, he added fiercely, knowing that there was no other way forward. Because the truth was that he _did_ have to do this. Somebody had to, that was for sure. No one else was going to do it. And definitely not Ran.

Ran would never have coped with this. She'd have given in, gone down under pressure, and she'd have ended up saying the exact opposite of what she'd come to say- what she _needed_ to say.

If Ran has had to face Kudo Shinichi then she would have agreed to go through with this wedding she didn't want, just as she'd been agreeing to do right from the start.

She'd go through with it and as a result she'd miss out on her chance of a real relationship, real love. No, Ran was better being on her way to the airport and a new life.

Leaving her older half-brother to tidy up after her. It was now Kaito's job to clean up, apologize, and explain.

That thought was enough to have Kaito's feet slowing as he moved away from where the car had just delivered him to the main door of the huge, elegant cathedral. Glancing upwards briefly, towards where the bell tower was etched against the clear blue sky, he drew a deep, calming breath and squared his shoulders. At his back the crowd of paparazzi gathered to record the event called for his attention, and the flashing of cameras sounded like a fusillade of bullets, one he struggled to ignore as he climbed the couple of worn stone steps into the porch, his fingers reaching out for the heavy wrought-iron handle of the big, carved wooden door.

"You're not getting trapped that way, Ran. Not anymore."

He spoke the words out loud, shaking his head as he did so in an attempt to give them more emphasis, to make them mean more and have more effect. But even as he heard them he knew that they lacked the conviction he'd been aiming for. They weren't going to be able to give him strength he needed to walk into the cathedral, announce what had happened and deal with the chaos that followed. And that was what he had to do. Because there was no one else.

"Come on, Kaito. You know you have to do this!"

Sighing with resignation, he accepted the truth as he forced himself forward again, curling his fingers around the big iron handle and gripping hard.

There was no one else who could sort this out. If he didn't do something then the whole dreadful, ugly mess would stay just as it was-in fact it would probably get so much worse. The explosion was going to be nuclear as it was. All he could hope to do was to try to contain some of the fallout so that the repercussions were at least manageable.

Nervousness made his palms damp so that his fingers slipped on the metal handle, foiling his first attempt to open the door.

"Oh, damn it!"

With nothing else available, he had no choice but to wipe his hands down his pants in an attempt to dry them off. The gesture did nothing for the appearance of the expensive suit, but then right now that was the least of his concerns. The ceremony that the suit had been planned for wasn't going to happen today after all, so it didn't matter at all what it looked like.

Besides, the suit wasn't really his style at all. It was the sort of glamorous look that his stepfather had chosen for the society wedding he had always hoped for for his daughter, and Kaito knew the color wasn't the most flattering for his dark brown hair and purple eyes. But that had been all right when he had believed that the wedding was what Ran wanted. It was Ran's day and nothing was going to spoil his half-sister's wedding, even if it was to a man that Kaito felt was not right for her.

A wedding was now no longer going to take place, Kaito reminded himself ruefully, reaching for the door handle again. He was going to need all his courage to go into the church and tell the news to everyone.

His stepfather would probably have hysterics. His mother-and Ran's- would become stiffer, even more withdrawn, her mouth clamping tighter than before. And the groom...

And the groom...

The thought made a sensation like the frantic flutter of butterfly wings start to beat up in Kaito's throat as the great door swung slowly open, to land with a hollow, sepulchral thud against the worn stone wall the noise making everyone inside the church turn and stare in expectation.

He had no idea what the groom would say or so. No idea at all just how Kudo Shinichi would react to the news that his bride-to-be had jilted him at the altar, running away from her marriage and heading for the airport and another man.

But just the thought made him shiver as his blood ran cold through his veins.

He had only met the man his half-sister was marrying once, at the family dinner in Shinichi's beautiful home just a few miles from Ekoda, two days before. But he's heard so much about him. And he'd seen the effects that his influence had had on his mother ever since the two embarked on a business deal together. It seemed now that every time he saw Chikage, she looked older, thinner, greyer. More shrunken somehow and clearly desperately stressed. HIs mom was just not used to dealing with financial sharks, and Kudo Shinichi was the biggest sharks of all.

Not for nothing was he known as the Brigand. A nickname that he had heard he lived up to in more ways than one.

"Just wait till you see him! He's such a hunk! And rich as sin," Ran had said, sounding so enthusiastic.

_Too_ enthusisatic, Kaito now realised, hearing in memory what he hadn't recognized then as the forced note in his sister's voice, betraying the careful effort Ran had been making to sound like an excited young bride desperately in love with her husband-to-be.

But Ran had been right about one thing at least- Shinichi was every bit as stunning as everyone had told him he would be. There was no denying that he was one of the most devastatingly handsome men he had ever met in his life. Tall, raven-haired, with a leanly powerful frame and perfectly carved features, he was a man for whom the description 'darkly dangerous' had to have been coined.

Hunk he might be, Kaito told himself later when he had been introduced to Shinichi. But when he had come up close, close enough to shake his hand, close enough to look into his face, he had known intuitively that the 'dangerous' part of the description was not just fantasy or his imagination running riot.

His grip on his hand had been cool and firm, his careful smile polite and practiced, but he had found himself looking into the coldest, iciest eyes he had ever seen. An unexpectedly pale blue gaze that seared over him with the cruel force of a focus laser. His skin prickled all over and he had felt alternately hot and then shiveringly cold as if he was in the grip of some horrible fever. But all the time he had felt the burn of his palm against his own, and his body tingled under the impact of that scorching gaze.

"Kaito?"

It was his mother's voice, blurred and almost covered by the murmurs of surprise from the congregation, coming to him from where she had been waiting just inside the church- waiting not for him but for her daughter to arrive. Ran had made an excuse that she didn't want to overtire her, had insisted that her mother went on ahead.

"Kaito..."

"What has happened?"

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><p>annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd cuuuuuuuut !<p>

what do you think?

please review.

I need your feedbacks- they keep me motivated.

Kindly hit the Review this Story button and let me know your ideas

~alex


	2. Chapter 2

Good morning everyone ...

I dunno why but thoughts and ideas just keep on entering my mind as soon as I was about to drift of to lala land.

Yay! I'm updating sooner than what I expected.

I'm really sorry for the OOCness but I still hope you would review :)

Your reviews keep me motivated.

Sorry if wasn't updating One Truth yet, it's just that there's a lot of ideas flooding my mind :)

Again, this is yaoi. Sooner or later there'll be a lemon/smex but I decided it's be better to leave the rating as T as I don't think this'd be Über lemon:)

Time Check: 03:52 EST and I'm wide awake while everyone must've been asleep...

**D I S C L A I M E R**

Shinichi: She doesn't own me *squeaks in delight*

Kaito: Or me together with the rest of MK/DC characters *jumps up in the air*

Me: Nyahaha .. You wish. If ever I'd get the chance to own you, It'd really be a super yaoi quasy fic :))

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><p><strong>C H A P T E R T W O<strong>

_It is an endless procession of surprises. The expected rarely occurs and never in the expected manner.. "  
>~Vernon A. Walters<em>

Another voice sliced into the buzz of interest that had filled the church with the realization that the new arrival through the door had been not the bride they were expecting but the bestman. A pale-faced, uncomfortable looking bestman at that, Kaito reflected miserably as the cold, incisive tones of the groom's question carried clearly down what seemed like miles and miles of aisle and made every other conversation and comment die away, like the tide ebbing back from the sand.

"What has happened?" he demanded again and unwillingly Kaito's eyes went to where he stood at the altar, tall and darkly, dangerously imposing.

If he had look stunning in the sombre black and white of the evening dress of the night of the party,so now, in the formal morning coat, waistcoat and elegant cravat, he had an impact that made his head spin. And from the moment that his eyes clashed with Kaito's, purple locking with glittering blue, it was as if there were only the two of them in the world. The rest of the people, his surroundings, the flickering candles and the gorgeous flowers all merge in one great blur, at the center of which was a dark, strongly carved face, a tight, set mouth and burning, molten eyes.

"Tell me!" Shinichi said, and it was an autocratic command, flung at him with all the force of a perfectly aimed arrow, right from the far end of the church.

The impact of it flung his head back, bringing his chin up as his eyes flashed a defiance of his dictatorial tone and he watched his eyes narrow in swift assessment, his beautiful mouth tightening sharply.

"Please.." he added with such a bite and an obviously carefully controlled effort that it was like a slap on his face. Stinging hard.

"It wasn't a 'please' at all, he thought furiously. It was just another way of phrasing a command, and in a tone that made him want to toss something rude at him and turn on his heel and march out. Either that or fling the shocking truth in his face and watch that arrogant glare fade from his face, the lord of all I survey' stance falter just a little so that his straight shoulders werent held so high, the elegantly booted feet not planted quite so firmly on the stone-flagged floor of the church.

But even as the angry thoughts crossed his mind, a sense of decorum and a touch of unwilling compassion pushed them out again fast.

Arrogant brute though he might be, Kudo Shinichi was still a bridegroom on his wedding day. He had come here today believing he was going to be married to his half-sister, Ran.

The same Ran who had fled from her hotel and was probably at the airport now with the man she had admitted she really loved.

Leaving it to her brother to explain just what was happening. The thought dried in his mouth, tightening his throat, and just for a moment he actually allowed himself the luxuryof considering turning and running too, getting away from here as fast as he could. This wasn't his problem; his responsibility. Let someone else explain to this arrogant Japanese taht his bride-to-be had had second thoughts. Let someone else...

There was no one else.

At the far end of the church, Kaito could see that his stepfather, resplendent in a coat, was twitching uncomfortably in his seat, his narrow face pale and taut as if he already suspected that something had gone very badly wrong. And his mother...

No, he didn't dare to look into his mother's face, knowing that she would guess he has brought the worst of news. And being his mother she would probably erupt in a rage. Which could be the worst possible response right now.

"Kaito..."

Kudo Shinichi's pointed hint that he continue sounded gentle, but looking into his dark, set face, Kaito suddenly knew that gentle was the exact opposite of just what he was feeling. He had barely controlled his impatience, reining it in only with the most ferocious power. And even now it was very close to breaking free. say the wrong thing and he would explode, the top blowing off his mental volcano and the red hot lava of fury flowing out to engulf them with specularly nasty results if he wasn't very much mistaken.

This was the Shinichi he had been led to expect. This was the brigand, whose reputation for arrogance and ruthlessness had reached him even in Ekoda.

When his mother had first announced that she as negotiating a business deal with Shinichishe had sounded so excited, totally confident that this partnership would make her a fortuneand so ease all her financial problems. But it hadn't been long before everything had seem to change. It was obvious that the deal was not the success Chikage had dreamed of but instead a source of great stress. Though just lately those worries seemed to have been burried in the unexpected rush to organize Ran's wedding.

"Kaito..."

Once more those softly dealy tones drew his eyes to the face of the man his half-sister was supposed to have been marrying today. And once he had looked into those burning, deep-set eyes, even from the distance, he found it impossible to look away. He couldn't drag his own gaze from the mesmeric force of his and once more he had that shocking sense of tunnel vision. Of being at the far end of a long, long channel from where the only thing he could see was the tall, powerful form of Kudo Shinichi, every ounce of his attention focused on him.

"What is it that you have to come here to say? Because you have come to say _something_, I assume?"

Drawing in his breath sharply, Kaito struggled to ignore the sting of that sarcastic tone, which had a bite like the flick of a whip.

"I have to speak to you," he managed, the words coming out as breathlessly as if he had just run the couple of miles from his half-sister's hotel room tot he cathedral. "Please..." he added with renewed urgency when he saw the way that his brows snapped together in a dangerous frown.

"Then speak."

An autocratic flick with one long, bronzed hand emphasized the command with the arrogance of a long-ago emperor.

"I for one am impatient to hear what you have to say."

He was impatient all right. He couldn't make that any plainer. And he would tell him. But not right here, right now. Not like this with close on seven hundred guests now openly gawping in his direction, fascinated by what was going on and anxious to view the next 'episode' in this soap-opera drama that had suddenly been staged before them.

With his heart beating up so high up in his throat that breathing normally was a complete impossibility, he made himself take the necessary steps forward down the aisle that brought him near to Shinichi. And as he went he tested possible openings over and over inside his thoughts, trying each one for size and discarding them as too stupid, too contentious, too clumsy, or just plain wrong. And even if he had any hope of an idea it fled from his mind in the moment he looked into his dark, shuttered face and saw the way those cold, hunter's eyes were burning down into him.

He knew that it wasn't possible but he suddenly felt that he was even leaner, stronger than he had appeared on the night he had been introduced to him. The formal tailoring of his wedding suit emphasized the straight width of his shoulders, the broad chest, narrow waist and long, long legs. And against the immaculate white of his shirt, the golden tones of his skin stood out in dramatic, powerful contrast.

"Can we go somewhere more private, please?"

His voice was thin and uneven on the words but he knew that he had heard him even though he inclined his head to one side, frowned faintly, as if he had not quite caught what he had said.

"Pardon?"

He took a step forward as he spoke and he was close wnough now to see the way the powerful chest rose and fell with his breathing, even see the faint shadow on his jaw where the darkness of stubble was just visible below the surface. He almost believed he could actually feel the heat of his body reach out to enclose him, carrying with it the subtle tang of some citrusy cologne, enhanced and deepened by the clean, personal scent of his skin. His heart was thudding even harder now, but this time he realized on a sense of shock that it was not just the sense of apprehension that gripped him but a sudden rush of purely manly response to the presence of a sexually alluring male. And that was the last thing he wanted to feel towards this man whose presence in their lives seemed to have created nothing but problems for his family.

"Can we somewhere more private, please?"

He forced himself to say it again, more firmly and a touch louder this time, though he really wanted to hiss it at him in the most controlled of whispers, for his ears only.

"Somewhere we can be alone."

"Alone?"

This time those brows drew together with such sharp force that he almost heard the snap and it was impossible to misunderstand what was in his mind. Kaito could feel the hot tide of blood race through his skin, hearing it with embarrassment.

"Kaito, I am about to be married."

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><p>wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!<p>

I have to cut it there :)

I feel just a lil tired but I'm gonna update as soon as I can.

Please leave your reviews and ideas...

Just hit the Review this Chapter button and leave some comments and suggestions.

I'd really appreciate that ...

~alex


	3. Chapter 3

Hiya people !

Sorry for the hold up .. :)

Hahaha ..

Thank You soooooooooooooooo much for all the reviews ..

**crumbthief**: this is an alternative universe story .. I'm just using the characters in the manga but the whole story's my idea. I'm sorry if you got confused :) thank you so much for the review. I hope you'll keep on reviewing til the end of the story :))

**WithMrDeathDie**: Sorry for giving too much tension :) in this chappie I'll try minimizing that :) thanks for reviewing ..

: Hai hai ! I'm updating now :) please keep on reading ...

**foreverandalways2310**: I'll try doing that however, I just feel like readers wont understand the characters situation if I'm gonna do that :) ok ok .. I'll minimize doing that :)

**Aniki-xvi**: I'm updating now ;) you can proceed with reading hahaha :)

Weeeeeeee :) I'm so happy .. Please continue with the story now :)

I don't wanna add to the tension :)

Again. MK|DC characters are not mine *weeps in the corner*

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><p><strong>C H A P T E R 3<strong>

"_A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."_  
><em>~Mignon McLaughlin<em>

oOo

"Not like that! I didn't mean it like that!" he hissed at him.

"And you're-"

With a sense of horror he choked off the appalling declaration-_you're not getting __married_. He couldn't just come out and say it. Not like that. Just as he couldn't give him the devastating news right here and now, in front of his audience.

Because he had to be devastated, didn't he? Even he was big and strong, and ruthless as they came, he had after all asked Ran to marry him, to be his wife, for better or worse...

"You really need to hear what I have to say," he managed, praying that the emphasis he was putting on the words hid the sudden huskiness that seemed to have affected his voice.

"_You_ think I do?"

He was looking down his long, straight nose at him now, forehead creased in disapproving frown, blue eyes darkened with frank disdain and total skepticism.

"You think I should hear what you have to say- but you give me no reason why you should march in here like this, without a word of explanation and demand that I-

"I'm trying to explain!" Kaito snapped in total exasperation.

Couldn't he see this was important? That he wouldn't have have 'marched in here' like this if it weren't? Couldn't he see...?

No, he acknowledged to himself privately. He couldn't see at all. It was the last thing that would probably cross his mind.

Of course he would never consider that his bride might not turn up. That she might abandon her wedding, jilting her bridegroom, and leaving him waiting in the altar. It would just never enter his handsome, arrogant head. Instead he had supreme confidence that she would be here, just as he had arranged, just as he wanted, and go ahead with the marriage-because he wanted it.

The immovable arrogance of the man was beginning to grate so much that he was actually clenching his teeth hard so as not to let rip with a furious and totally unvarnished declaration of the truth.

"But I think that you'd prefer it if we were alone to talk."

"What would I _ prefer_ is not be alone with an unknown man just moments before my wedding ceremony. Can you imagine what the gutter press would make of that?

"Oh if you're interested in preserving your reputation then you needn't worry! I can assure you that I have no intentions on..."

Kaito's voice faded away as he caught the piercing, cynical skeptical look he slanted at him from those burning, blue blue eyes. He really thought he was here as some sort of reputation-ruining exercise? What sort of life did this man lead that he had become so totally synical, so appallingly suspicious? Did he truly believe that he would use the time they were alone together to blackmail him later- demanding a small fortune not to 'kiss and tell'?

Well, he had no intention of kissing at all...

That thought sent his unwary gaze flying to Shinichi's mouth, lingering just a moment too long on it's sensual shape, the cynical half-smile curling the corners, and his heart skipped a beat. Kissing those lips would be an experience, one that set off flares of warning in his mind at just imagining it.

But 'handsome is as handsome does.' as his father was fond of quoting. And everything he had heard about Shinichi put that 'handsome does' part of saying very much in doubt.

"I prefer not to know what intentions you might have..."

The icy tones dragged his thought back from the fooling path they were travelling, giving him a hint of perhaps one of the reasons why his half-sister had decided that she couldn't go through with this wedding.

"POh for heaven's sake, you impossible man," he exploded.

"I'm trying to save you from embarrassment here."

"Kaito..."

It was his mother who stepped forward, obviously determined to intervene, her face alternating between red and pale, he tone and her use of his name a brusque reproach.;

"Kaito - please..."

But she stopped dead at a sudden lift of Shinichi's hand, an automatic signal to stop-stay away. Obviously something in what he had said had caught Kudo Shinichi's attention. That 'you impossible man,' Kaito strongly suspected. He doubted very much that he was regularly subjected to such a contemptuous description-if ever.

"If you're really afraid, then we can leave the door ajar so that someone will hear your screams when I..."

But no, he'd gone too far there. If he had meant to provoke him into a decision and action, then he had succeeded. He had pushed him over some sort of edge that he hadn't even known was there and he had lost whatever remaining grip he had on his tolerance, moving from an irritated, barely reigned-in impatience in the blink of an eye, He could see it in the flash of cold fire in his eyes and in the way that his beautiful mouth thinned to a brutal, hard line.

And suddenly his heart was thudding in a very different way from the purely humanly response of just moments before. From being at least on secure ground, if not at all confident of his reception, he now felt as if the earth had shifted beneath his feet, opening up the stone flags to reveal a nasty, scuking, dragging swamp that was closing over his feet, starting to drag him in- drag him down.

His throat was painfully dry and his thoughts spun as he slicked a nervous tongue over parched lips.

"Believe me, it really would be better if we spoke in private-in there perhaps..."

He waved an arm in a wild gesture towards a door that he presumed led to the church vestry.

Just what he was going to do if he dug in the heels of his highly polished handmade shoes and refused to go anywhere, he had no idea. But it seemed that he didn't even need to consider the possibility because from his obdurate refusal to cooperate, Shinichi now launched, suddenly and fast, into action. Swift as a striking snake, his hand came out and clamped his fingers around his upper arm, their tips digging into the skin.

"You want to talk?"

His voice was harsh and thick with anger, his voice sounding strongly deep in his throat.

"Then we'll talk."

And he marched him across to the arched wooden door that he had indicated, wrenching on the handle to push it open with scant ceremony. Bundling him inside, he kicked it closed behind him with equal disregard for both the church fitting and, obviously, the idea he had formerly held that being shut in a room with him might prove compromising.

Clearly that idea was long gone. Infact, to prove the point, he leaned back against the old, dark wood and folded his arms firmly across the width of his chest. If he had thought that his jaw was set, his mouth closed tight before, then it was nothing when compared with the hardness of his face now, the ruthless control of all but the tight muscle that worked in his jaw.

"Well," he declared after a single flashing glance at the white-gold watch he wore on his left wrist.

"You have three minutes in which to explain just what all this is about-and believe me the explanation had better be good-otherwise..."

He let the threat trail off but all the same it still had enough force and note of danger in his tone to send an apprehensive shiver running down Kaito's spine.

"So? What do you have to say that is so important?"

"I..."

Twice he tried to get the words out and both times his voice failed him. Looking into his hard, set face was a mistake. It froze his throat around the words until he could hardly breathe. But looking away was no help either. How could you tell a man that the future he thought was his had been snatched away from him without looking him in the eye?

But looking him in the eye was quite beyond him.

"You've already wasted thirty seconds." Shinichi gibed.

"Another couple of minutes and I will walk back out there and-"

"Ran isn't coming!"

The words broke from him as any attempt of restraint or control, or even coherence, was possible. There wasn't a right way to say this, he told himself, not a good way and definitely not an easy way, so the only thing he could do was fling the words out into the open and then hope to make a tactical withdrawal, flinching back out of the way of the fallout from the violent explosion that had no result when he made his announcement.

"Ran isn't coming. She's changed her mind."

Astonishingly the explosion he had been anticipating didn't come. But, if it was possible, the sudden dark and dangerous silence that greeted his outburst was actually worse.

It was so long-drawn-out and so deep that he felt it take his nerves with it, stretching them out so painfully until he thought he might actually scream out loud with the tension.

"Changed he mind?" Shinichi finally echoed the words as if he couldn't believe what he had heard or if he did when he didn't understand just what it meant. "Explain!" he rapped out, the cold command having the force of a bullet fired from a gun.

Well, he'd asked for it. He'd tried to be fair. He'd tried to be considerate. But it seemed that fair and considerate were concepts that Kudo Shinichi just didn't understand or appreciate.

"Ran isn't coming to the wedding. She doesn't want to marry you after all.."

"Where...?" Another question was barked at him, the single syllable seeming to spark with anger in the air as it flung from his lips. "Where the hell is my bride?"

Kaito would have sworn that it was impossible for his brows to draw together any more sharply or for the burning eyes to blaze any more furiously without smoke actually starting to fill the room, but somehow Shinichi managed to reign in his anger even though he could practically hear it crackling hot in his veins in contrast to the icy control of his beautiful voice.

"And why is she not here, at my side- before that altar, as she should be?"

"Oh, please!"

Kaito felt he couldn't take it anymore. His anger was one thing, when directed to him, but those words '_my bride_' had almost destroyed him.

_My bride._ A word that should have meant the promise of love and joy and happily-ever-afters. But he made it sound so possesive.

"I'm sorry but she's never going to be here, at your side, before that-that..."

The word eluded his over-stressed brain and he could only manage a wild wave of his hand in the direction of the doorway against which he stood, meaning to indicate the church and the altar beyond it. The church where everyone- Kaito's family and his, his friends-were all waiting for the wedding to begin. The wedding that would never begin now. Never take place.

"She's not coming. She's not going to marry you. She went to the airport but she'll be through to the departure lounge now. She was taking a plane to America with the man she really loves. The man she really wants to marry."

"She's gone."

That icy precision was back in his voice, making him wince in sharp distress when he heard it. He had never felt quite so low and nasty as he did now, and it wasn't even his own battle he was fighting. But he couldn't let Ran go through with this marriage, the prospect of which was obviously making her so unhappy.

"Your sister-has run out on her wedding."

There was a darkly dangerous note in his use of the word 'sister,' one that caught on something raw in Kaito's heart and twisted, ruefully, painfully. But he didn't dare to absorb the impact of it, take it out and look at it closely to see what it was really implying or what lay behind it, He didn't have time either. He'd finally almost managed to complete the mission that had brought her here. He'd told Shinichi the truth and could now hope to leave, get out of here as fast as he could.

"She has jilted me-left me for some other man?"

"I'm afraid so."

"She really should have not done that."

"I know, and I am sorry-she should have told you before now, should have admitted to you that she didn't love you enough to marry you. I know you must be hurt-"

The tumbling words were starting to fall each other, tangling together in his nervous haste, but they suddenly froze, shutting off completely in shock, as Shinichi's response broke into them.

And it was because it was not at all the response he expected that it caught him up short. In fact it was so much the opposite of the response he had been anticipating that he could only stand and stare, deep purple eyes widening in stunned disbelief.

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><p>Cut !<p>

Hahahaha :)

What so you think Shinichi's reaction would be?

Weeeeee I'm too excited writing this up :)

Kindly hit the Review this Chapter button and let me know!

If I receive a lot of review I'm gonna update faster and the chapters will be longer ..

That's a **P R O M I S E :)**

~alex


	4. Chapter 4

Hi people.:)

I'm updating again.. Sadly, I haven't got a lot of reviews... :((

Anyways, lets proceed with the story.

**D I S C L A I M E R**

Shinichi: She doesn't own me *squeaks in delight*

Kaito: Or me together with the rest of MK/DC characters *jumps up in the air*

Me: All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**WithMrDeathDie**: That will be mentioned on this chapter :)

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><p><strong>C H A P T E R 4<strong>

_"Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires."_**  
><strong>_~Francois de La Rochefoucauld_

**oOo**

Because Shinichi had laughed.

When he had said he had understood how he must be hurting he had actually flung back his head, closed his blue eyes briefly and laughed out loud. And it was not a pleasant laugh. It had nothing of any real humor in it, no warmth at all. It was a cold laugh, a harsh and bitter laugh, one that made a thousand tiny electrical shiversw over his skin and turn his veins to ice.

"Shinichi?" he queried, wondering if after all he had actually got through to him.

In his nervousness had he really made any sort of sense or had he just confused him? Was it possible that he had somehow made him think that this was some sort of joke- a very dark, sick one, but a joke nonetheless?

"Shinichi-did you hear what I said? You have to understand..."

"Oh, I heard, hermoso, and I understand only too well. Your sister had reneged on her promise and run out on me, leaving you to pick up the pieces. That I understand only too well. What I do not get is why in hell you think I should care?"

"What?"

Kaito found that he was blinking in confusion, trying to make sense of Shinichi's words, but most of all trying to understand or even believe in his reaction.

If that laugh had been unexpected, then the rest of his words sounded almost surreal. When he had been expecting distress, anger, bitterness at the way he had been betrayed and left at the altar by the woman he wanted to marry, instead there was dark cynicism, and almost dismissal of what he had just said.

"You don't care? But surely...?"

Shinichi's response was a shockingly indifferent shrug of his shoulders under the fine cloth of his immaculately tailored jacket, and he pushed both hands through the gleaming darkness of his hair as if relaxing after a long day.

But _relaxed_ was the last word he would use to describe the set of his face, the tight compression of his sensual mouth, the way that a taut muscle jumped in his jaw. And the glittering look he turned on him had nothing that was comfortable or easy-going in it. Instead, he was reminded of how, on the day he had first met him, he had believed that he had the coldest eyes of anyone in the world.

"You expect me to act as if your sister has broken my heart? As if I have lost the love of my life and cannot find the strength to go on-to live for the future?" he questioned cynically, biting the words out as if they were bones he wanted to snap. "Well, then you could not be more wrong. _I_ will have no trouble going on with my life after this-though your family might find it harder to pick themselves up as a result. In fact-"

He broke off as a sharp rap came on the door, someone knocking on heavy panels from the other side, in the church.

"Kaito? Kai?"

It was his mother's voice, coming sharp and concerned through the thickness of the wood.

"Is everything all right? What's going on? Shinichi-what-"

"Wait a second!" Shinichi snapped, tossing the word over his shoulder, his burnig eyes still fixed on Kaito's bewildered face.

"We will be out in a second and we will explain all. Or rather..."

The cold, curt tone slid into something else as his eyes seared across his skin, seeming to strip away a necessary protective layer and leave his nerves raw and exposed underneath.

"You will do the explaining," he said and for all the sudden softness and smoothness of his tone, Kaito could be in no doubt that it was an autov\cratic command, one that he expected to to have obeyed without hesitation or argument.

"You will tell you mother- your family-what has happened.'

"But I..." Kaito began, his voice failing him, the words drying in his throat as he tried to protest. It isn't up to me now-surely you..."

He couldn't go out there and tell everyone why he was here. Tell them that Ran had to run out on her wedding-the wedding that was described in the newspapers and the gossip columns as the Wedding of the Year, the joining together of huge wealth and aristocratic beauty. It was to have been the union of one powerful rich, ultra modern bloodline of the billionaire detective slash entrepreneur, and the old patrician lineage of Ran Mouri, twenty-year-old daughter of Kogoro Mouri. Shinichi Kudo who had made his fortune with his own hands and brain, dragging himself up from his lowly and impoverished beginnings to the height of his wealth and power, was marrying into nobility, a family whose name had been amongst the highest in the land for centuries past. It had been the stuff that fairy tales were made of, especially when the bride was acknowledged to be a stunning beauty and the groom a hunk whose carved, handsome features and lean, frame had featured in many photographs in the gossip columns and in magazines, usually with some supremely decorative female draped on his arm.

"I don't think..." he tried again, feeling even more lost and adrift than in the first moments when he had arrived in the church and had come under the scrutiny of those coldly burning eyes as he walked up the aisle towards him.

Because the truth was that he didn't know what he was meant to say or how-and what-he was supposed to explain. Nothing had been as he had expected it. But then how did you know what might happen when you had to break up a wedding by announcing to the groom that his fiancee had jilted him? It wasn't exactly something that you did everyday.

But Shinichi wasn't listening to his protests. Instead he had levered himself away from the door and taken two swift strides towards him, his hand coming out and clamping over his arm, just above the elbow fingers digging into his skin as he swung him round to face the door at his side.

"You will do it," he declared, cold, brusque. "Your family has messed up my life enough already, so now..."

He was interrupted by another rap at the door and his mother's voice again, sharper this time.

"Kait6o-what's going on in there...?"

"Nothing-I mean, it's fine," Kaito managed when Shinichi turned a forceful glare on him, the burnished eyes directing a silent command that she should respond.

"We-we're coming out now and I'll...I'll explain."

He had no option, it seemed, because that hand that gripped his arm was now pulling him forward, leaving him no choice but to follow.

"Let go of me!" He spat in furious protest. "OK, so I had to bring you bad news-but there's a saying about not shooting the messenger. And that's all that I am-the messenger. Ran's the one-"

"But your sister's not here."

It was a low growl and he didn't look at him, didn't slow his steps towards the door, yanking it open as soon as he reached it.

"So don't take it out on me! You can't drag me about like this-"

He'd taken his attention off his own feet for a moment and as a result he caught his toe against one of the uneven flagstones, stumbling awkwardly in the unaccustomed shoes. For a second he thought he would fall but then that cruel grip around his arm tightened even more, holding him upright by sheer force.

"Don't yank me about!"

"I was trying to help."

The cold flash of his brilliant eyes warned him not to argue but his own temper was bubbling up sharply and he was having to struggle to contain it. How had this happened? How had he come from being just, as he had said, the messenger of bad news, to being the victim of Shinichi Kudo's dark disapproval, hauled out into thew church by him to face the congregation assembled for his society wedding, without even being aware of just what was involved?

Because something was involved, that much was obvious.

"Then don't help." he laced his tone with sarcasm to make it clear that helping was the last thing he thought he was doing. "I can manage quite well enough on my own."

"You might be able to manage," he flung back from between gritted teeth, keeping his voice low so that no one, not even his stepfather in the front row, or his mother, still waiting by the altar steps, could catch what he was saying. "But I would prefer it if you didn't fall flat on your face and then blame it on me. And I want to make sure you don't take off li8ke your sister and disappear out the door."

"What would it matter if I did?"

For a second, Kaito was tempted to aim a hard kick at Shinichi's ankle but another of those flashing sidelong glances seemed to catch his intent and a grim smile crossed his mouth as he brought them both to a halt right in front of the altar.

"Kaito," his mother began once more but silenced herself hastily when Shinichi turned a burning glare on her.

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

He barely had to raise his voice to be heard, the church had fallen so silent as soon as they had appeared. Every eye in the place was fixed on them, some faces frowning in confusion and puzzlement, others, like those of his mother and step father, looking pale and taut with tension. Just what was going on here? What were the undercurrents he was just not picking up on? The things he didn't understand?

But Shinichi didn't seem to be aware of them as he continued to speak as calmly and as confident as if he were making his after-dinner speech-the one that now would never have to be made.

"There has been a slight change of plan..."

_Slight?_

That bright Kaito's head round to his in a reaction of stunned shock. How could he describe Ran's jilting od him, her flight to the airport, as 'a slight change of plan'?

But Shinichi ignored his total consternation, his wide, shocked eyes and continued with total control.

"The wedding is not going to take place..."

"Not..."

The word was choked from his mother as she took an unsteady step backwards. And in the front pew, Kaito saw his stepfather went even whiter, one hand flying to his mouth as if to hold back the cry of shock and disbelief that almost escaped him.

"What...?"

It was Chikage, trying again to make her tongue work, to ask the question that was so obviously whirling round and round her head. Kaito had rarely seen his mother looking so shocked and upset. In fact, her reaction seemed out of all proportion to the situation. OK, so it was bad, there was going to be a terrible embarrassment to fac, and the aborted wedding would be the talk of their friends - and probably the gossip columns for some weeks to come.

But surely that was better than Ran making a huge mistake and marrying a man she didn't love? Better to call the wedding off now than to face a costly divorce-costly in more ways than financial-maybe jsut months from now? But his mother was looking as if the end of the world had come and...

Kaito had no chance to think things through further because at that moment Shinichi's firm grip on his arm propelled him forward so that he was standing just in front of him, facing the gaping congregation.

"Ran isn't coming," he said coolly. "She has run out on me-that is what her brother came here to tell me. And now he's going to explain it all to you."

A forceful little push made him take another step forward in the same moment that it pointedly told his that now was the time for him to speak-to tell everyone the truth.

But what was the truth? Suddenly Kaito was not quite sure. He only knew that it had been obvious that Ran didn't want to go through with the wedding. But why had she ever agreed to it in the first place? That question made the earth seem to shift beneath his feet. But he didn't have time to consider the possible implications of that before his mother found her voice.

"Kaito? What is happening?"

"Tell her," Shinichi prompted harshly when he still hesitated. "Tell them"

"I'm afraid Kudo-san is right..."

The way that his words echoed round the silent church had an eerie, hollow sound but atleast his voice had more strength than he had anticipated and he sounded as if he knew what he was talking about. How far that was from the truth only he knew.

"Ran has changed her mind. She doesn't feel it would be right to marry him. Not when she realizes that she truly love someone else."

And that at least he could say with conviction. In his mind he still had a clear image of the moment he had looked into his sister's hotel room and seen Ran sitting on the bed, staring at the beautiful wedding dress that hung in the wardrobe, her face pale and drawn, her eyes flooded with tears.

"I thought I could do this, Kai," his sister had said. "I really wanted but it just isn't going to work now. If Saguru hadn't come into my life I would have gone ahead...but he did...and meeting him has changed everything."

"She's truly sorry to have messed everyone about...but she knew it was better to break it off now than to go into a marriage that she knew wasn't really right for her-"

"And she did not have the courage to come and tell me herself?"

It was Shinichi who spoke, his low, darkly dangerous tone drawing his eyes to his face. The black fury that blazed in those eyes, the bitter, insulted pride that tightened his jaw, turned his mouth to a thin, hard line, sent a shiver down his spine as his hard, unyielding gaze locked with him. Privately, he acknowledged that he couldn't blame Ran for not wanting to face him. When he looked like this he couldn't imagine why his sister would ever have wanted to marry him in the first place.

"No," he managed uncomfortably. Ran hadn't even dared to face her mother and father with the truth. "I'm sorry."

If the slight inclination of his proud head was meant to be an acknowledgement of his apology then it failed to have any impact. There was no lightening of the coldness in his eyes. And to think that he had once worried that the news of Ran's flight might _hurt_ him!

This person looked as if nothing could touch him. As if nothing could penetrate that armored hide and reach through to find his heart. Right now he didn't even look as if he had a heart to touch.

"So where is Ran now?"

Another question from his mother drew Kaito's attention back to where Chikage was standing, hands clenched tightly together, a frown creasing her forehead.

"On her way to the airport-no..."

A quick glance at his watch confirmed his suspicion.

"She must be through to Departures by now. She was getting on a plane..."

"Oh, no! Ran!"

It was Kogoro Mouri, Chikage's second husband, reacting in exactoly the way that Kaito had anticipated that his stepfather would.

"What has she done? What will we do?"

"Hush, my dear..." Chikage's response sounded almost like a reproach rather than an attempt at consolation as she stepped forward to take her husband's hands in hers and hold them tightly, looking deep into his glistening eyes.

"Kogoro-don't..."

Kaito took a couple of steps forward, then stopped, knowing that his stepfather would not want his attempts at comfort.

"Surely it's better this way than for her to realize later that she's made a terrible mistake," he repeated.

Oh, he was good, Shinichi told himself, watching the way Kaito had moved forward then hesitated, noting the quiet, soothing note of his voice. Listening to him, watching him, he could almost believe he was genuine. That he believed every last word of the story that had dropped so convincingly from his pretty mouth.

But of course that couldn't be true. He had to be in this right up to his neck. He must have known that his sister was going to run out on him; why else would he time his arrival at the church so perfectly that it was impossible for anyone to go after Ran and bring her back?

They were all together -the whole family. And he had been foolish enough to let them persuade4 him to let his guard down and, for the first time in his life, make a bad decision.

_As a wedding present for your bride..._ He could still hear Kogoro Mouri's beseeching voice inside his head. _You wouldn't want to see your mother-in-law thrown out into the street..._

God! What had he been thinking? Never before had he paid out anything on a contract before the whole deal was signed and sealed, but this time he's let his guard slip just a centimetre and that damn family had taken full advantage of it.

"You must want Ran to be happy."

"She would have been happy with Shinichi!" Kogoro wailed.

"We would all have been happy with things that way!"

"But she _wasn't_ happy," Kaito protested. "She just didn't dare say it, once the wedding had been arranged and everything planned."

From where he stood slightly to the side, all that Shinichi could see was this Kaito's face and body in profile, and, having looked at him once, he suddenly found it impossible to look away.

'Weird and happy-go-lucky' was the way his stepfather had described him. But even at the pre-wedding party he had not seen him in that way. Now, even under the appallingly unflattering style, his profile had a purity that caught the eye and held it. His skin was so pale it was almost translucent and the length of the lush, eyelashes that rested on his cheeks as he looked down seemed almost as if they might waft a breeze across the church with each movement of his eyes.

His figure was tall and slender but he held himself with a natural elegance. There was something about him that drew his attention to him.

Something that hooked him and held him watching, caught by his stillness, his composure. Something that intrigued him and wouldn't let him go.

On the day that they had met she had been so cool, so distant, that he had disliked him on sight. He had turned those purple eyes on him in the sort of look that he had seen too often as he was growing up. Not to mention that he did look almost identical as him, lest the eyes and hair. The expression that reminded him he had clawed his way out of the gutter and he still carried the taint of the slums along with him. It was a look that he had vowed he would never let anyone subject him to ever again and, seeing it, he had told himself that if he had to chose then he would really prefer Ran to this cold, stiff, unwelcoming man. Wait, what? He's not a girl. Why was he comparing that guy to Ran?

Now he was no longer certain.

"But one thing's for sure," he was sating now, the calm, soft tones of his voice carrying clearly even above his stepfather's near-hysterics.

"I'm afraid there isn't going to be a wedding day here today. I just couldn't let Ran go through with it."

_Counldn't..._ The word swung round and round in Shinichi's head, sending warning echoes out like ripples in a pond when a pebble was thrown into it. _I just couldn't let Ran go through with it._

_Couldn't,_be damned. He had been part of this all along. He'd known that Ran was going to break her promise, had helped her run out on the wedding.

Helped her humiliate him in this public way.

"I'm sorry that you've all had a wasted journey, but I*'m sure you'll all undestand. And now I suppose the only thing we can do is to go home and go on with our lives."

He was moving forward as he spoke, making it plain that he was about to do just that, about to walk down the aisle, out of the church..."

"So if you'd all like to leave..."

"No!"

That was not going to happen. He wasn't going to just walk away from this, walk out on the mess he and his family had created, and leave it all behind without a backward look. The furious feeling that he had been duped and robed was like a blaze in his mind, obliterating rational thought, driving him into action. His hand shot out and fastened around his arm again, pulling him to a halt with such force that he actually spun around again, coming face to face with him. Ran might be beyond his reach, but his brother was not.

That family owed-and he didn't care who started paying. Only that someone did. And this brother seemed a good place to start.

But first he need to make sure that he didn't get away from him now, running out on him fast like his deceitful, lying sister.

"No," he repeated even more forcefully. "You are not going anywhere-_you_ are coming with me."

* * *

><p>woooooooooo CUT again :)<p>

I think it's too long that people will be bored just by reading it ...

PLease review after reading .. I put a lot of effort in writing this :)

Kindly hit Review this Chapter button and give your feed backs :)

~alex


	5. Chapter 5

Here comes another update!

I'm sorry for taking long :)

**D I S C L A I M E R**

Shinichi: She doesn't own me *squeaks in delight*

Kaito: Or me together with the rest of MK/DC characters *jumps up in the air*

Me: All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R F I V E<strong>

_'Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives. '_  
><em>~William Throsby Bridges<em>

**oOo**

"Why?"

Once again Kaito was strongly tempted by the idea of a swift kick on the ankle bone of the haughty, autocratic male who held him captive as he glared into his face, just inches away from his. Only the thought of the audience still seated in the pews behind them kept him from actually physically attacking him, though he glared into his arrogantly handsome face, praying that his defiance and determination showed in his own eyes as they locked with his.

"Why on earth would I want to go anywhere with you?"

"Because I'm asking you to," Shinichi said with a swift, totally unexpected smile.

The transformation in his face was so sudden, so astonishing that it made him blink in total disbelief. From being coldly tyrannical and domineering, he had suddenly switched to deliberate and persuasive charm.

And it was working, he admitted unwillingly to himself as he felt the unexpected change in his pulse rate, the new unevenness of his heartbeat in response to the softening of his expression, that stunning smile. He didn't want to feel that he was weak enough to resp0ond to the practiced charm of an experienced male seducer, but the truth was that he couldn't stop himself. When that smile curved the sensual lips and the light illuminate4d his burnished eyes, then he suddenly found some of the prickly defensiveness with which he had confronted him melting away and being replaced by an intensely human and instinctive response.

"Look..."

The way he raised his voice, the swift gesture of his hands towards the people was a move to include everyone in what he was saying. But the direction of his eyes, the burn of their focus was meant for him and for him alone. And the sheer force of it knocked him off balance before he had the chance to collect himself, win back his much needed control.

"The wedding may have to be cancelled-this part of things spoiled-but does the whole day have to be ruined? I have a reception prepared back at my home. My staff and the caterers have been working for days to get things ready. It would be a crime to let everything go to waste."

For a moment he held his gaze and the searing intensity of his eyes made his head spin with the message it seemed to be giving before he suddenly glanced up again, looking out at their audience and switching on another of those impossible, seductive smiles.

"As Kaito says, so many of you have had a long journey here. What sort of a host would I be if I let you leave again without any refreshment, anything to eat? I invite you all back to the house. There might no longer be any need for a wedding reception but I hope you will enjoy my hospitality just the same."

Kaito could scarcely believe what he was hearing. He knew that just a few minutes before, there, in the little room just off the altar, he had asked him why he should care that his bride had jilted him at the altar But could he really just turn and walk away from what was supposed to have been his wedding-and invite all his guests along to share in the abandoned reception?

The cold-eyed man he had first met might be able to. But would the man with the lethally charming smile he had just seen? And which one of them was the real Shinichi Kudo?

"You-you won't want us there..." he managed. "Our family would be the last people you'd want to come along. The spectres at the feast, as it were..."

His voice trailed off again as once more he was treated to that brilliant, enticing smile, but one he felt was touched with an iciness that was infinitely disturbing.

"On the contrary, _you_ are more than welcome."

Was he fooling himself or had there been a deliberate emphasis on that you? Surely he couldn't mean just him?

"I am sure that you will want to help me get through this time that I should have been spending with my new bride."

Now that had very definitely been laced with something darker, more ominous, the hint of a threat that made his skin crawl in uncomfortable response.

"I think not..." Kaito tried but Shinichi ignored him and swept on as if he hadn't even attempted to speak.

"And I am sure that your mother would prefer to have somewhere to regain her composure before she has to face the paparazzi."

"The paparazzi?"

He hadn't thought about that. The truth was that he hadn't been able to think beyond the actual delivery of his sister's message. After that, his imagination hadn't been able to stretch to consider the possibilities.

"But of course."

This time Shinichi's smile was pure ice; nothing charming or even pleasant about it all. It was a smile that destroyed all the warmth that had filled him just moments before, leaving him feeling drained and lost and suddenly very fearful for the future, though for no reasons he could put his finger on.

"You think that they will let a scoop like this pass them by without comment? The wedding of the year turning into the non-event of the year. It will be just the sort of thing they'd love to report. And they'll tear your family to pieces to get it."

The blue blue eyes slid to where Chikage was still wailing her distress on the front pew, with Kogoro struggling to soothe he but actually looking as pale as his wife himself. Once more Kaito shivered as he felt that sensation like something cold and slimy crawling over his skin. He could just imagine how his mother would go to pieces in front of the cameras, the pictures that would appear in the columns the next day.

"And you could stop that?"

"I have men employed to make sure that the Press don't get too close. And I have a fleet of cars waiting to take everyone from the church to the reception."

Kaito nodded silently. He's traveled to the church in one of those cars. Big, sleek limousines with smoked glass windows that provide the occupants with efficient protection from the flash of camera lights, the prying lenses. And he's seen the efficient security that had ringed the cathedral, making sure taht no one who wasn't on the guest list could get through.

"Why would you so that-for us?"

"Obviously I have my own reasons for not wanting the story of what has happened here today plastered all over the scandal sheets. Once inside my home, we can all relax."

Relax. The word had so much appeal to it. Kaito's whole body was starting to ache as it he had been holding himself tense for so long that he had forgotten how it had felt to be any other way. Every muscle was tired and his head was starting to pound.

"Then thank you. I'll tell my mother-get her and Kogoro into a car."

"No. Jii will see to that."

One hand lifted in a silent signal to someone at the back of the church in the same movement that Shinichi moved once more to hold him back. But this time his fingers laced with his, closing tight over his hand as he restrained him. Kaito's heart jumped painfully as he felt the warmth of his palm curve against his, heating his blood and sending a pulsing up his arm towards his heart. His fingers tingled, his skin felt scorched and his mouth seemed to dry suddenly in the heat so that he slicked his tongue over parched lips to ease the sensation.

He had moved closer too and the scent of his body seemed to surround him like a warm mist, tangy with some light cologne overlaid by the muskier, more intimate aroma of his skin. Just inhaling it set all the tiny hairs on the back of his neck lifting in sensitive response, and his heart thudded even harder, forcing him to snatch in a swift, sharp, much needed breath of air.

"You will come with me."

It was a command, not a suggestion. The tone of his voice said that he wouldn't listen to any argument, and the way that his hold on his hand tightened meant that he could not pull away as he headed away from the altar, dragging Kaito with him.

He should be worried-probably even a bit frightened, Kaito admitted to himself as he trotted in his wake, trying to keep up with the long, powerful strides that took him down the aisle at a pace he couldn't quite manage. And he was just a bit of both.

But right at this moment, discretion very definitely seemed the better part of valour in this situation. Digging in his shoes, refusing to move, would only cause another, bigger scene, and he had already had more than enough stress and emotional tension for one day.

In one thing at least, Shinichi was right. With the paparazzi baying at the door of the church, they would soon suspect that something was wrong when they realized that the bride was not going to turn up, and then they were going to have a field day. The sooner everyone got out of here the better.

The journey back to Shinichi's elegant mansion would only take a few minutes, and once there he would be able to escape, lose himself in the crowd of the guests, the force of his presence diluted by the presence of so many others.

Surely the worst was over and things could only get easier from now on?

* * *

><p>Woooohooo!<p>

I'm sorry for the short chapter.

I promise to update sooner though.

Kindly hit Review this Chapter button and give your feed backs :)

I'm sorry for the grammar/spelling/word construction mistakes.

I'm hoping for your feedbacks!

Thank You...

~alex


	6. Chapter 6

Here's your promised update :)

I'm sorry for the short chappie last time ..

**D I S C L A I M E R**

Shinichi: She doesn't own me *squeaks in delight*

Kaito: Or me together with the rest of MK/DC characters *jumps up in the air*

Me: All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R SIX<strong>

_'All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. '  
>~Anatole France <em>

**oOo**

HAD HE REALLY thought that things would get easier? Kaito asked himself a couple of hours later. The truth was that he really had no idea whether things were getting better-or so much worse.

Restless and totally ill at ease, Kaito prowled around the huge blue and gold dining room in which the meal that was to have been part of the reception following Shinichi Kudo's wedding had been served and where now a small army of his staff was clearing away the remains of the wonderful food.

It had been delicious, at least, the one or two mouthfuls he had tried had been out of this world, but he had found it impossible to actually swallow more than a couple of bites. His stomach had been churning so wildly, his head throbbing, and a feeling as if a hundred thousand butterflies were dancing along his veins had made it impossible to try and sit still.

And matters had been made so much worse by the way that Shinichi had insisted that he sit beside him. Right next to him in the sit that should've been his bride's place. Instead of which it had been his bride's brother who had taken that seat, looking totally out of place in the unaccustomed finery of his suit, with his hair already starting to escape from the hair gel that mouri insisted on to keep his hair from sticking out...

"What am I doing here?" Kaito murmured to himself as he paused by one of the huge windows that opened out onto a wide stone balcony overlooking the huge grounds, staring out at the sweeping slope that led to the woods on one side and the enormous rectangular swimming pool on the other.

Right now the blue water sparkled beautifully in the sun, making him think longingly of pulling off his clothes and plunging into its cool depths. Or at the very least kicking off the shoes that was crippling him and dangling his feet over the edge, letting the water ease the aches and the raw spots where the leather had rubbed too much.

"So this is where you're hiding yourself..."

The male voice pulled him out of his reflections, bringing him back into reality in the space of a heartbeat. He had only heard-what?-a few thousand words spoken in that voice this afternoon on top of little more than a hundred on the night they had first met, but he knew that forever onwards he would always recognize it, only needing to hear a couple of syllables in that rich, sexy voice and he would kinow instantly who was behind him.

"I'm not hiding. After all, nobody wants to see me. Just taking a breather."

Deliberately he kept his gaze fixed on the scene beyond the didn't want to look into Shinichi's face, knowing that they would only scramble the thoughts that he was fighting so hard to clear. Besides, he had faced him all the way here, studied that shockingly handsome face close up, tried to read what was going on behind those amazing eyes, the lush black lashes, tried to judge his mood from the tone of every word he spoke-and he had failed miserably. Whatever was going on in his mind, he was hiding it from him without any effort. Everything he said, every gesture, every expression that crossed his face gave away nothing at all.

"And trying to work out what the hell I'm doing here."

"You're here as my guest, like everyone else."

A guest at a reception for a wedding that never was. It seems to be a weird thing to be celebrating."

"You don't think that it's a practical solution to a possible problem? I had no intention of wasting the money I'd paid out for this."

"You paid for the reception?" It had confused him from the start. He had wondered too why the marriage was to take place in Beika, but Ran had said that Shinichi had insisted on it. "But why?"

"Your mother could not afford to do things the way that your stepfather wanted-I could."

It was blunt and matter-of-fact, but surprisingly without the note of dark cynicism he might have expected. And somehow that worried him more. He knew that his stepfather had extravagant tastes, and it had been obvious that his mother was struggling to indulge themselves in the way they had once done.

"And I intended that my bride should have only the best."

Which was a stiletto-sharp dig that made him wince. Shinichi might have declared that he didn't give a damn that Ran had walked out on him, and yet he was a man who had been prepared to spend heavily to make sure that she had a wedding day to be proud of. It didn't quite add up.

"You've been very generous."

Shinichi shrugged off his attempt at thanks.

"If I had not invited everyone back here, I would've been overwhelmed with expensive food and wine with no one to help me to deal with it. And not everyone ate as little as you did."

So he had noticed the way that he had simply pushed his food around on his plate and hadn't been able to force himself to choke much of it down. The feeling of having been watched so closely, of his noting everything he did, was unnerving, making him shift uneasily from one foot to the other.

Behind him, his tall figure was reflected in the glass of the window as evening darkened the grounds. He had discarded his elegant jacket and the cutaway armholes of the silk waistcoat emphasized the power of his arms, the width of the broad, staright shoulders.

"Was the food not to your taste?"

"It wasn't like that. I didn't like the feeling of being watched-being on show. I felt as if everyone was staring-wondering just why I was there."

"Who gives a damn what anyone else thinks?"

Not him, obviously, his tone said.

He couldn't continue this conversation without looking at him and so he forced himself to spin around until he was facing him, looking into that stunning face.

Not that it helped him in any way. If he had thought that his expression was closed and shuttered against him in the car on the journey here when he had hardly spoken a single word all th way, then it was even more sealed off from him now.

Anyone watching them would simply see polite attention, the natural courtesy of a considerate host to one of his guests, stamped into the beautifully carved profile, faintly curving the beautiful shape of his sensual mouth. But facing him head on, Kaito couldn't be unaware of the total control he was imposing over every feature, every expression.

His eyes were almost half-closed, giving him a sleepily sensual look that had the most devastating effect on his heart rate, making it thud slow and heavy until he heard its echoes deep inside his head. But beneath those eyelids, sleepy was the last thing the burnished eyes actually were. They gleamed with sharp intent as he watched every move he made, followed every tiny gesture, every revealing twitch of a muscle.

"And you needed to avoid the paparazzi." Shinichi continued, "I gave you a way to do that."

"I'm grateful."

His voice shook slightly with the memory of the pack of reporters who had been waiting outside the church, as close tot he grounds as the heavy ring of security would let them get. Shielded by Shinichi's body, hurried into the sleek limousine, hidden behind the smoked-glass windows, he had still been aware of the size of the crowd, the loud buzz of interest, the shouted questions. The cameras had flashed wildly too until he had felt as if he were in the middle of some dramatic firework display and he huddled in the back of the car, cowering away fromt he windows.

"And so, I'm sure, are my mother and stepfather."

He'd only seen them once since they had arrived at Shinichi's beautiful home. His stepfather had been supporting his mother, helping her into a seat, fetching her a brandy, though the truth was that he looked fit to drop himself. Ran's decision had hit them both hard and for that reason he had to be grateful to Shinichi for the way he had taken action.

"Protecting us from the Press might have been the start to it but there was more to it than that."

"You think so?"

The lift of an arching eyebrow questioned his statement, sending a rush of hot blood into his face. He always felt as if he was on the wrong foot with this person. From the moment that he had arrived at the church to tell him that the wedding was off, he had never once reacted in the way he had anticipated. Once again he felt as if the ground was beneath his feet was shifting dangerously.

What makes you think that you matter enough for that? the look in his eyes said.

"Well, there has to be more, or none of this makes any sense."

"You're here because I want you here." Shinichi inserted smoothly. "And that is all that matters..."

* * *

><p>I've updated faster than I should but please bear with me for shorter chapters.<p>

I'll try to update for longer chapters next time.

I just want to give you guys something to hold on for the story.

I still hope that you would review and give your feedbacks.

I'd really appreciate them...

~alex


	7. Chapter 7

I really am sorry for keeping it this long ..

I promise something that'll suit your liking will happen on this chapter :)

**D I S C L A I M E R  
><strong>

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**foreverandalways2310:** hell yeah .. Imma cut down on words :)

**DayDreaming0f y0u: **cant tell what'll happen just yet :) I ain't a spoiler hahaha

**Shimizu Hikaru:** Don't worry ... I'll tie him down his BED :) soooooooon ...

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R S E V E N<strong>

_'Nobody can LOVE intelligently...  
>Because the nature of LOVE is MADNESS...'<br>_

_~Kaitou KID_

**oOo**

"And you always get what you want?"

He didn't actually answer his question verbally. He didn't have to. The look in his eyes, the slight inclination of his head, told him all that he needed to know. But the dangerous thing was the reaction he couldn't quite control. The sudden fizz of excitement that bubbled up inside him at his words. The quiver of delight at the thought that he would actually describe him as someone he wanted here with him. Someone for whom he was prepared to scheme and man oeuvre in order to get him to his home.

Things like that didn't happen to him. People like Shinichi didn't happen to him... Not to home-loving pranksters with ultra unruly hair. They happened to people like Ran. To petite, brunette-bombshell party girls with stunning figures and blue, blue eyes.

"You seem to have recovered remarkably well," he declared suddenly, needing to cover his own confusion with a challenge that sounded overly aggressive because of the uncomfortable thought behind it.

"I can't imagine anyone else who has recently been jilted at the altar being such an affable host."

"You'd expect me to have collapsed on the church steps, weeping?" Shinichi inquired sardonically. The flashing look from those brilliant eyes told him just how far off the mark he was if he did.

"But if you wanted to marry her-if you looved her..."

"Love?"

It was a sharp, cynical laugh, one that was so cold and mocking that it made Kaito flinch back against the wall, away from its savagery.

"I don't believe in love. Never have. Never will."

"Then why were you going to marry Ran?"

This time his eyes narrowed so sharply that they were just glinting slits in his face, a dark frown drawing his brows together. Kaito suddenly had the uncomfortable feeling he was like some small, defenseless butterfly, laid out on a microscope slide, ready for dissection.

"It was what your sister wanted. She wanted it and it suited me. There was nothing like love involved."

"You were going to marry my sister just..." Kaito began angrily but then the words faded from his tongue as he fully registered the impact of the second thing he had said.

"No...she wouldn't!"

He shook his head so violently that his hair became more unruly than previously.

"Why so indignant, Kaito?" Shinichi questioned softly.

"Surely you knew?"

"Well, yes..."

Ran had admitted that she didn't love Shinichi, and now he had made it plain that he hadn't loved her either-so what had his sister been planning to be? Merely a trophy wife? Was even Shinichi capable of such cold-blooded machinations?

Shinichi caught hold of his chin in his fingers and held it, stilling his uneasy movement. The way he tilted his face up to his forced him to look deep into his eyes. Locking with the darkened gaze that burned into his.

"Why does that shock you so much? Many people marry for convenience."

"Older families, maybe-in other countries. Or people who need the money. But not people like you-you don't..."

Horrified, he caught himself up sharply, almost biting down his own tongue in his haste to have the foolish, revealing words silenced. What was he thinking of? What had he come so very close to saying-and so giving himself away?

"People like me don't what?" Shinichi asked, the very softness of the question reveling just how dangerous it really was. "What were you about to say, Kaito-hmmm?"

"Well-you don't need any money, do you? You're rolling in the stuff-disgustingly so."

That made those arched brows shoot up in a way that made his stomach twist uncomfortably. He knew he had spoken rashly, over-emphatically, but he had been trying to conceal the true path his thoughts were following, which was that a man like Shinichi, someone who was stunningly good-looking, so wealthy, so successful, would never need to buy a wife or to enter any sort of a marriage of convenience. He would only have to crook his little finger and women would be lining up outside his door.

And would he be one of them? His mind skittered away from even considering that question, ever mind answering it. It was just too risky to what little was left of his composure.

"Disgustingly?" Shinichi echoed, an odd note creeping into his voice. "You don't approve of my wealth?"  
>"Not when you use it to take over other people's lives."<p>

"Your sister was not 'taken over'..."

Folding his arms across his chest, Shinichi leaned back against the wall and subjected him to a slow, sweeping survey, the narrowed eyes moving from the top of his head right down to where his feet still ached inside the tight shoes. Lingering for a second, his gaze then swept swiftly back up to his face and the flame in his eyes was not one of appreciation but a cold, burning anger that made him flinch deep inside.

"She knew very well what she was going to get out of it."

And perhaps, at first, that had seemed enough, Kaito acknowledged. Thinking back over the way that Ran had looked, the things she'd said, she had to admit that Ran had been excited by the idea of marrying Shinichi-at least at the beginning. She'd loved being seen on his arm, appearing in all the gossip magazines. It was only later, when she'd met this Saguru, that things had changed.

"And what about you? What did you get out of it?"

"I wanted a wife. Legal heirs to inherit all I've worked for..."

"There are other ways.."

This time the flashing glance that seared over him practically sizzled with contempt. He couldn't have said anything more stupid, anything he would believe in less, his expression said.

"If you're thinking love and romance and happily ever after then forget it. I told you, I don't believe in love."

"Why not?"

"It does not exist..."

It was the coolest, most definite statement possible and one that left him in no possible doubt that he would be foolish to try and argue him out of his stance. He might as well bang his head hard against the stone wall that surrounded the terrace, leading to the curving steps down to the swimming pool. But he was so appalled at the black cynicism of his tone, the opaque appearance of his eyes, as if he had shut himself off from him, that shock and disbelief pushed unthinking words from his mouth.

"And so you bought yourself a wife."

"No," Shinichi drawled cynically. "I did not buy..."

"What else would you call it?"  
>"I would not call it anything, <em>Kaito.<em> Nothing at all. Because if you remember, I did not end up with a wife at all. My fiancee did not keep her promise."

The pointed reminder was guaranteed to close Kaito's throat completely, choking off any words he might have managed. He was right, of course, whatever their arrangement had been, Ran had broken her promise to him. A terrible thought crossed his mind. Was it possible that he was angry enough to sue for breach of promise?

"And I did not just want a wife-there was more to it than that."

"How? What else did you want?"

"A union with a respectable, dynastic family name. You've heard the nickname," SHinichi added when he looked at him askance, a frown of doubt creasing the space between his brows.

"The brigand?"

A curt nod of his head acknowledged that he was right.

"It is not used as a compliment."

"And that matters to you?"

He couldn't believe it. He seemed so indomitable, so unconcerned by anyone else's opinion.

"I don't give a damn." he confirmed his suspicions. "But I do not want my children to have to fight for their place in the society as I have done. With your sister as their mother-even the most conservative, most prejudiced types would have to accept them.

There was bitterness in his tone that made his words ring with a harsh truth. There was no need for him to explain the prejudice he had to live with. It was there in his voice, in the darkness of his eyes; so sharp and savage that he winced inside to hear it and thought of what was behind it.

"I can only apologize."

His voice trailed off as Shinichi lifted his shoulders in a shrug that expressed total indifference without any need of words. But the indifferent gesture didn't match with the dark ice in his eyes, the freezing glare that seemed to burn right through the bone.

"You think an apology will suffice?"

"I think it would at least be-polite."

"Ah yes, and the Japanese, they are always so very polite. That of course made everything right."

"I never said that!" Kaito protested, flinching away from his cynicism. "But would it have been better if Ran had told you herself?"

"Is that what you would have done, hmmm?" Shinichi questioned with a deadly softness that made Kaito shiver involuntarily as he caught the venom that threaded through it.

"Would you have come to me yourself? Would you have told me the truth, I wonder? Or would you have done what your sister has done and fled the country rather than face me?"

Right now, he could quite understand why Ran had behaved as she had, Kaito told himself. Just at his moment he could imagine that he would do anything, go anywhere rather than face him. He didn't raise his voice or put any force into his words. He didn't need to. The barely reined-in anger was there in the bite of his words, contrasting with the unbelievable gentleness of his delivery. A gentleness that was somehow so much forceful than if he had shouted.

"Ran did what she had to do," he managed, fighting to keep the tension he was feeling from showing in his voice. If Shinichi spotted any sign of weakness in him then he would be quick to take advantage of it, and he was determined to give him as little opportunity to do so as he could.

"She did what she had to do," he echoed derisively. "And left you to face the consequences while she ran away to be with her lover. And yet you still defend her. You still fight for her corner."

"She's my sister."  
>"Only your half sister."<p>

"But family-and you know how important that is."

"On the contrary..."

Kaito would have sworn that it was impossible for Shinichi's tone to become any colder, but he could practically see the ice forming on the words s he spoke them, feel the chill of his tone sear across his exposed skin.

"I'm afraid I do not share your belief in the importance of family. It is a concept that I consider to be highly overrated."

"Another one! First love and now the family. You really are a cold-hearted bastard, aren't you?

Just for a moment something flickered deep in his eyes. Then another blink of those eyelids and it was gone. But it had been flashing, savage, dangerous. A look that warned him he had stepped too far over some invisible line that he wasn't aware of him having drawn to the ground between them.

Belatedly, he realized that he hadn't seen anyone who might have his family on his side of the church. Had he blundered badly, stepping heavily on his toes, or was there something about his family that he had just not known? Something that gave a reason why they would not turn up at Shinichi's wedding. His mother told him little about this man she had gone into business with, other than he was a self-made billionaire, wealthy beyond anyone's imagining. And he had made that wealth by taking no prisoners.

"I am indeed a bastard," he drawled silkily. "As I am sure you are only too aware."

"No-I..."

Oh, dear heaven, he'd made a mess of things here. Did he really believe, as his tone implied, that he might have encouraged Ran to back out because he was illegitimate?

"And as to a family, then that was what I believed I was getting with your sister-a _future family_."

Kaito hadn't been aware of having moved, but somehow his back was right up against the wall, both physically and mentally. Hastily he tried to recover lost ground.

"Look-Ran only did what I told her to."

If his eyes had been cold before, they were pure ice now.

"You told her to run out on the marriage? What gave you the right to interfere?"  
>"She didn't loveyou!"<p>

"Ah, yes, love-that word that seems so incredibly important to you."

"It's more than a word." Kaito protested. "It's vital to life. Look, Ran and I may only share a mother, but she's still my sister. I was just turning a year old when she was born and she was not a day old when my mom put her into my arms."

He'd fallen in love with Ran right then and there and had vowed that if ever his sister needed anything he would be there. That he woulf protect her, keep her safe from harm. He'd kept that vow for nearly twenty years.

"I couldn't let you make her unhappy!"

Thoughts of family gave him conscience a much needed nudge.

"I really should go and tell my mother-find how Kogoro is doing. Do you know where they are?"  
>"You won't find them. They left half an hour ago."<p>

"They left? Then things have cleared outside? The paparazzi have gone...?"

The hopeful question faded as Shinichi shook his head emphatically.

"I sent them home in a car. Security will have got them through the crowd outside, but no, the Press pack has not gone."

"If they've not gone, then why expose my mother and Kogoro to their demands? You sent them to face that mob..."

"I didn't want them here."  
>Shinichi's total indifference was truly shocking.<p>

"The Press won't be interested in your parents anymore. They know that the wedding never took place so they guess that the real story is in here, not with them."

Suddenly, to his complete shock and disbelief, he turned on that devastating smile, the one that left him weak at the knees, and made his heart thud unevenly.

"It's you they'll want to know about now."

"Me? Why would they want to know anything about me?"

"They know that you went into the church instead of Ran. They also saw you come out again with me. They'll want to know why the marriage never took place. And just what part you played in all of it."

* * *

><p>I'm terribly sorry...<p>

I think the lemon will come out in the next chapter.

Still, please send your reviews... Thank You ! :)  
>~alex <p>


	8. Chapter 8

Update update update !

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

**Aniki-xvi**: Oh yes and I'll make sure you'll get hooked *winks*

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: You got it right! Shinichi wants him all to himself .. hahaha I'm having a hard time writing the lemon part please bear with me .. I might just settle for some fluffy stuff :)

**foreverandalways231**0: I'm updating .. I'm updating :)

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R E I G H T<strong>

_'I took a chance and followed my heart. It might not have been the smartest decision I've ever made but the end result was worth it all. Do you know why? I got you. '_

_~500 days of summer_

**oOo**

"ME?"

He couldn't really mean that-could he?

He had thought he knew exactly why Shinichi had determined on holding the reception in spite of the fact that there had been no marriage to celebrate. Ruthless pride had kept him holding his head high, refusing to admit that anything had gone wrong at all. The man who didn't give a damn that he was nicknamed the brigand was also determined that no one should think he gave a damn about what had happened today.

He had told him straight out that his planned marriage to Ran had been nothing but a marriage of convenience but he would still show the world how little he cared for his bride's defection by carrying on with the party without her. But surely it must be every bit as much of an endurance test for him as it was for Kaito, with everyone's eyes on them, every move he made being observed and commented on.

His disbelieving question was dismissed by another of those disarming smiles that lit his face so vividly, yet somehow managed not to reach his eyes, which remained as coldly distant and assessing as in the first moment he had met him. But even as his mind shivered in the glare of that ice-clear gaze, other, more vulnerable, more instinctual, more male parts of him were responding mindlessly to the power of that smile.

Just a curve of the lips, nothing more, and yet it warmed him deep inside, had his heart beating quicker, heat spreading right through him, melting, softening, pulsing downwards.

Never before had his rational self and the unthinking, instinctive part of him been so much at war, so totally distant and on opposite sides of the fence. He knew that his sensible self should be the stronger, winning any argument without any problem, but right now, it was the irrational, totally emotional-totally sensual-side that was winning.

He could tell himself that he was just imagining things. That no person could have such an instant and potent effect on him in such a short space of time. He could say it over and over again, trying to drill it into his stupid head, but even when he's thought he'd succeeded, then the aching gap that yearned after Shinichi refused to be erased, hungering after one more glance from those brilliant eyes, the sound of his gorgeous voice, another of those devastating smiles.

"I thought we agreed not to waste the reception that had already been prepared."

"We didn't agree on anything-you decreed it would be that way."

"So if I asked you to dance, you would say no?"

"Dance?"

Was the man crazy? Did he really plan on _dancing_ at this wake for his wedding?

As if on cue, the sound of music started up in the next room and as he blinked in confusion Shinichi held his hand out to him, palm upwards, ready to take his.

"I hired musicians too," he said with a faint twist to his beautiful lips. "I dont plan on wasting them, either. Dance with me, Kaito."

"I can't..."

"Can't?" His tone made it plain that he found his response impossible to understand. "Or won't?"

The hand he had held out still hung between them, fingers splayed, the width of his palm tempting him to put his hand into it and feel the heat of his skin, the strength of his muscle underneath his own fingertips. His hand twitched at his side, fighting against the sensual need to do just that and, hidden by the fall of his coat, his fingers clenched into a tight fist until his nails dug into his palm, the closest he could come to a much needed pinch to reassert reality, tell himself that he was not dreaming. This really was happening.

The day had been so totally different from the way he had expected it to go from the moment that he had got up that morning that he could almost believe he had done something like Alice and stepped through the looking glass into a new and completely unexpected world, where everything was back to front and upside down and he couldn't begin to find his way through anything or try to understand it.

"I shouldn't!"

"And why not?"

His voice had sharpened on the question, putting a sting into it that made Kaito wince.

"You're supposed to start dancing with your bride-your wife! And... We're both male!"

"But my bride is thousands of miles away. Tell me something..."

His tone had changed abruptly as he took a couple of sharp, swift steps towards him, letting his hand fall back down again until it rested on the fine leather belt that encircled his narrow waist. And it was only when he saw it drop that Kaito could acknowledge the sting of disappointment that his movement brought, the way that he had really wanted to take his hand, feel its warm strength curl around him.

"If this were not my wedding day-if we had met some other day, some other time and I had asked you to dance-would you say yes? If this was a party at which we had just met, would you dance with me then?"

* * *

><p>Wooooops ...<p>

I almost had a slip :)

I know I know...

This chappies short... I wasn't even supposed to post it yet..

But I can't help it... I wanted to update..

What do you think would Kaito's response be?

Tell me... SO I can write it up A.S.A.P :)

Please send me your reviews...

I friggin' love `em !

anyways ..

Those of you who's got facebook ... add me up !

eijhei061007[at]yahoo[dot]com

~alex :)


	9. Chapter 9

Update update update !

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

**Aniki-xvi**:Yes more updates ! hooray ...

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: Wooohooo satisfy your curiosity :)

mochiusagi: lemme think bout that hehehe please read on !

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R NINE<strong>

_'Don't test a woman heart_

_ because you don't know the magnitude of the pain she been through_

_ before you enter her life.'_

_~Kaitou Kid_

**oOo**

_Of course I would._

The words flew into Kaito's mind so fast and so clearly that he actually felt he might have spoken them aloud, or at least that they had sounded in the air so that Shinichi could hear them. Hastily he closed his eyes, fearful that he mind be be ale to read his thoughts in his eyes and so know how hard and how fast he had fallen under his seductive spell.

"Would you?"

He was so close now that he only needed to murmur the question for him to hear it, and his breath stirred the wayward strands of his hair as he bent down his proud head towards him. The scent of his body tormented his senses, making him think of the hard reality of the flesh and muscle concealed underneath the elegant, tailored clothing.

"Kaito, tell me..."

"Yes-yes, I would."

"Then come..."

Once more that hand was under his nose but this time it was making an autocratic gesture, not enticing his to give way.

"Why fight?" he continued when he still hesitated.

"There is no need."

Why fight|? Kaito was asking himself the same question. The problem was that he didn't really know who he was fighting. Shinichi? Or himself?

He had little doubt that this was just a passing thing. That Shinichi was merely looking for a distraction. Something to divert his mind from the fact that he had been jilted at the altar. Even if he was truly as indifferent to things as he claimed, the public rejection had to sting his male pride if nothing else. And so he wanted something to take his mind off it. Something to take his mind off it...

And he happened to be the nearest person.

But if he was honest then he didn't care if that was all it was, if it meant that he could have this evening. And he could be with Shinichi for tonight.

"All right." he said slowly, still not quite believing what was happening. Not at all sure where this would lead. Only knowing that he would always regret it if he turned Shinichi down right now. " All right-let's dance."

When Shinichi took his hand in his and he felt the warmth of his fingers closed around his, the little excited judder that his heart gave in his chest told him that he had made the right decision. The decision that put a fizz of exhiliration into his veins and made his breath catch in anticipation of what was to come.

Even if at the end of the day when the clock struck midnight everything would turn back to normal, tonight Cinderella would go to the ball. Tonight he'll dance with the prince and if at midnight it all came to an end and proved to be the fantasy he deep down knew that it was at least he would have had tonight.

"Let's dance," Shinichi agreed and a rich note of satisfaction ran through the words, deepening his voice and turning the words into a tiger's purr of pleasure. One that made his blood run thick with sensual reaction.

He even forgot the way that his feet ache, the way his leather shoes dug into his skin as he walked beside him through the wide, marble-floored hall, heading towards the sound of the music.

But as they passed the big wooded doors leading outside, he saw how they were flung open and at the bottom of the short flight of steps a big, sleek limousine was drawn up, engine idling, waiting for some guest who was leaving early. Seeing it, he slowed his footsteps, his mood altering subtly. Outside the darkness was gathering, the growing shadows of the evening reminding him that this strange, unbelievable day, in which nothing had gone the way he had expected it, was starting to come to a close. And he couldn't forget that somewhere out there, in the sanctuary of their hotel room, his mother and Kogoro would be feeling the aftermath of the day's events just as he had been doing.

And charming or not, Shinichi was still the ruthless creature who had earned his notorious nickname. The man whose connections with his mother had turned Chikage Kuroba into a shadow of the woman she had once been.

"Kaito?"

Shinichi had sensed his change of modd, the way that his steps were dragging. He paused and looked over his shoulders at him, not turning, his body still positioned in a way that declared his intention of moving on just as soon as he could.

"Perhaps I should go back."

"No."

"But I should find out how my mom is..."

"No!"

It was far more emphatic this time, for all that he hadn't raised his voice above a conversational tone.

"You will not leave."  
>"But Shinichi, I really think I should. So if you could arrange for a car to be,,,"<p>

* * *

><p>Wooooops ...<p>

Please send me your reviews...

I friggin' love `em !

anyways ..

Those of you who's got facebook ... add me up !

eijhei061007[at]yahoo[dot]com

~alex :)


	10. Chapter 10

I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience my recent activities have brought..  
>Imma try to correct everything on this chapter.<br>I might take longer in updating now but definitely longer ..  
>As long as my previous chapters I mean.<p>

As for the last update I've had, I was really in a hurry coz my bf was really pissed of at me that I had to stop what I'm doing .. and that's an accidental post.

I don't wanna disappoint you guys.. please accept my apology ..

**NOTE:**

I'll be posting the last chapter on Italic as so not to bore cut you off your reading.

If you still remember where I cut it off last chapter, you can go ahead and skip the italicized first part.

I'm sorry for the misspelled words, grammatical error.

A few instances where I felt it would enhance the narrative, I have taken literary license; but any factual errors are my responsibility alone.

**D I S C L A I M E R  
><strong>

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R TEN<strong>

_Sometimes,_

_ I just want to run away,_

_ not because things are bad or because there's something to run from, _

_just because there's nothing in particular keeping me here._

_~Shiho Miyano_

**oOo**

_Of course I would._

_The words flew into Kaito's mind so fast and so clearly that he actually felt he might have spoken them aloud, or at least that they had sounded in the air so that Shinichi could hear them. Hastily he closed his eyes, fearful that he mind be be ale to read his thoughts in his eyes and so know how hard and how fast he had fallen under his seductive spell._

_"Would you?"_

_He was so close now that he only needed to murmur the question for him to hear it, and his breath stirred the wayward strands of his hair as he bent down his proud head towards him. The scent of his body tormented his senses, making him think of the hard reality of the flesh and muscle concealed underneath the elegant, tailored clothing._

_"Kaito, tell me..."_

_"Yes-yes, I would."_

_"Then come..."_

_Once more that hand was under his nose but this time it was making an autocratic gesture, not enticing his to give way._

_"Why fight?" he continued when he still hesitated._

_"There is no need."_

_Why fight|? Kaito was asking himself the same question. The problem was that he didn't really know who he was fighting. Shinichi? Or himself?_

_He had little doubt that this was just a passing thing. That Shinichi was merely looking for a distraction. Something to divert his mind from the fact that he had been jilted at the altar. Even if he was truly as indifferent to things as he claimed, the public rejection had to sting his male pride if nothing else. And so he wanted something to take his mind off it. Something to take his mind off it..._

_And he happened to be the nearest person._

_But if he was honest then he didn't care if that was all it was, if it meant that he could have this evening. And he could be with Shinichi for tonight._

_"All right." he said slowly, still not quite believing what was happening. Not at all sure where this would lead. Only knowing that he would always regret it if he turned Shinichi down right now. " All right-let's dance."_

_When Shinichi took his hand in his and he felt the warmth of his fingers closed around his, the little excited judder that his heart gave in his chest told him that he had made the right decision. The decision that put a fizz of exhiliration into his veins and made his breath catch in anticipation of what was to come._

_Even if at the end of the day when the clock struck midnight everything would turn back to normal, tonight Cinderella would go to the ball. Tonight he'll dance with the prince and if at midnight it all came to an end and proved to be the fantasy he deep down knew that it was at least he would have had tonight._

_"Let's dance," Shinichi agreed and a rich note of satisfaction ran through the words, deepening his voice and turning the words into a tiger's purr of pleasure. One that made his blood run thick with sensual reaction._

_He even forgot the way that his feet ache, the way his leather shoes dug into his skin as he walked beside him through the wide, marble-floored hall, heading towards the sound of the music._

_But as they passed the big wooded doors leading outside, he saw how they were flung open and at the bottom of the short flight of steps a big, sleek limousine was drawn up, engine idling, waiting for some guest who was leaving early. Seeing it, he slowed his footsteps, his mood altering subtly. Outside the darkness was gathering, the growing shadows of the evening reminding him that this strange, unbelievable day, in which nothing had gone the way he had expected it, was starting to come to a close. And he couldn't forget that somewhere out there, in the sanctuary of their hotel room, his mother and Kogoro would be feeling the aftermath of the day's events just as he had been doing._

_And charming or not, Shinichi was still the ruthless creature who had earned his notorious nickname. The man whose connections with his mother had turned Chikage Kuroba into a shadow of the woman she had once been._

_"Kaito?"_

_Shinichi had sensed his change of modd, the way that his steps were dragging. He paused and looked over his shoulders at him, not turning, his body still positioned in a way that declared his intention of moving on just as soon as he could._

_"Perhaps I should go back."_

_"No."_

_"But I should find out how my mom is..."_

_"No!"_

_It was far more emphatic this time, for all that he hadn't raised his voice above a conversational tone._

_"You will not leave."_  
><em>"But Shinichi, I really think I should. So if you could arrange for a car to be ..."<em>

He broke off in shock as he saw the fierce shake of his head, the obdurate set to the beautiful lips, all trace of softness driven from it by the way it was clamped tight, the tautness of every muscle in his jaw.

"There will be no car."

"Oh but surely you have more than one..." Kaito began to protest, the word dying on as gasp as he realized what he had said.

Not there isn't another car. But _there will be no car._ He wasn't just saying that it would be difficult to provide transportation for him but that he wasn't prepared to.

"What do you mean, no car?"

Digging in his feet both mentally and physically, he refused to move, trying to tug his hand free when it seemed that he would march on, taking him with Shinichi. But although Shinichi too slowed to a halt, his grip on his hand tightened so that he couldn't free himself. "You can't keep me here!"

"I thought that you wanted to stay."  
>HIs voice was soft but there was a hint of steel threaded through it, and something in his eyes sent a warning that made him shiver. Did he want to stay? A moment ago he had been so sure. Now he was forced to wonder...<p>

"I think perhaps-"

"I think perhaps not," SHinichi cut in, not letting him complete the sentence. "They didn't ask you to go with them. So you have no need to leave-not until I say so."

But that was just too much, and hearing the arrogant declaration, Kaito brought up his head, eyes widening as he galred his defiance into his handsome face.

"What gives you the right to say when I can come and go?"

NO, he'd made a wrong move there, taken the wrong tone with him, Shinichi told himself. He was not going to let him get away with that. An unexpected sense of admiration tugged at his mind as he acknowledged the glare of defiance in his eyes, the way his head had gone back. If he was not careful he would lose him and he didn't want to let him get away, not until he was sure that he was _his._ Right now he looked like a nervous mare, one of the thoroughbreds he bred at his stud, when something had spooked him.

He was going to have more of a challenge with this person than he had ever expected. And the truth was that he liked the idea of that. He anticipated the prospect of having to work to win him over. He was already so much more intriguing than his sister. The end result would be worth the effort.

"It's not that I have the right."

The faint twitch of Shinichi's mouth at the corners was either amusement or an admiring acknowledgement of his boldness in defying him, Kaito couldn't decide which.

"Maybe I'm not ready to let you go."

Which was so far from the response that he had expected that it had him gaping in stunned silence, unable to believe that he had heard him right. Had he really said...?

"What do you mean by that?"  
>"I told you. You're here because I want you here."<p>

And he always got what he wanted. BUt why did he want him here? What did he want from him?

"SO you stay until I say you can go."

And with a sudden movement he reached out and kicked the door closed, shutting Kaito in with him. BUt even as the heavy wood slammed into place, that smile was still there, curving his lips, warming his eyes unexpectedly.

"Come, now, Kaito," he mocked when he heard his gasp of shocked horror. "What do you think that I am going to do to you? Ravish you right here on the floor in front of all my guests?"

The hand that held his moved slightly, twisting until his thumb was curved into his palm, smoothing the sensitive skin with a gentle touch. A touch that sent pulses of fire prickling like an electrical current along every nerve.

"I am simply asking you to stay-to dance with me-to share the evening with me."

_I'm not ready to let you go..._ The words that he still couldn't quite believe that Shinichi had actually spoken-to him-swung round and round in his head until he felt dizzy just to think of them.

_You're here because I want you here._

Oh, who was he trying to kid? He wanted to stay, he might as well admit it. Cinderella wanted to stay at the ball- and he wanted to spend more time with this man who, if he wasn't actually Prince Charming, was certainly the most exciting, most glamorous, most devastating male he had ever seen in his whole life.

The hollow empty feeling that had been left behind we\hen the fizzing excitement evaporated was now filed with a sensation like the frantic fluttering of a million butterfly wings.

He was no longer as worried and fearful as he had been just moment before, but his stomach clenched in apprehension and uncertainty at the thought of the evening ahead of him.

Could he handle this? Could he cope with a person like Shinichi? The sort of person who was light years away from any human being he had ever met before and who lived the sort of life he had never experienced. Could he cope even one evening in his company? But could he live with himself if he chickened out now?

Now everything was changed. And it seemed, impossibly, that Shinichi felt something too. But with a man like him he was in out of his depth and he knew it. Everything that was sensible in his attire, every shred of self preservation was screaming at him to go now, leave while he still could. But at the same time every essential and most fundamental cell in his body was begging him to stay. And the resulting tension, the tug of war between them, threatened to tear him into two.

Beside him, Shinichi moved again, lifting his hand and letting it rest against the hard warmth of his chest, so that he could count every regular, heavy beat of his heart as he looked deep into his eyes.

"JUst a dance, Kaito. Is that too much to ask?"

And when he smiled at him he knew that he was lost and there was only one answer that he could give.

"No, of course it's not too much."

_Just a dance..._ But would that dance mark an ending or a beginning? He only knew that he would not be able to rest until he found out.

* * *

><p>That was supposedly the whole chapter nine.<p>

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to properly post it last night.

I really am sorry about this.

I promise to update longer chapters as my previous chaps...

Please don't forget to send your reviews..

Thank You So much !

**R E V I E W REPLIES:**

**mochiusagi: i reposted the chapter nine .. **

**angelwingsonline: dang! I love your review ! you're such a wonderful reader. I promise to update longer ! :)**

**DayDreaming0f y0u: Thanks for the continuous support!**

foreverandalways2310: They'll do something... soooooon...

XxAkatsukiFanxX: It's explained in the first part but it'll come out in the later parts as well :)

Thanks for reading guys!

~alex


	11. Chapter 11

Update update update !

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R ELEVEN<strong>

_'If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to the rest of his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism.'_

_~Erich Fromm_

_**oOo**_

_AN ENDING OR A BEGINNING?_

The reception was over, everyone had left, but he still had no idea of what the answer to his question would be.

Kaito hurried down the curving stone steps that led from the terrace to the swimming pool, anxious to get unto the lower level of the garden where he would be hidden from the sight by the shadows and the darkness. He needed time on his own to snatch in deep, much needed breaths of air, cool his burning cheeks, and hopefully calm the racing pulse that was throbbing at his temples and making his heart thud against the walls of his chest.

He needed time to think. Time to collect his thoughts and try to bring them under some sort of control.

Reaching the tiled are that surrounded the pool, he settled down on one of the wooded seats and removed the crippling shoes, sighing deeply as his cramped toes were freed and the pressure of the leather over his feet eased. If only he could ease the confusion in his mind as easily.

He was supposed to be the sensible one-the level-headed, thoughtful, grown-up child of Chikage. He had never felt this way before. Never known anything like the explosion of sensation that had blown up right in his face in the time he had known Shinichi Kudo.

"Time? What time?" Kaito asked himself on a shaken laugh, lifting his face to stare up at the moon that shone it's cool, clear light down onto the still water of the pool. He had barely known Shinichi more than a day, had only been in his company for a few hours at most, and yet somehow he had rocked his world and his sense of any sort of reality.

Nothing in the few gentle relationships- he could hardly call them romances, flirting might be the right word-that he had experienced had ever knocked him off his feet like this. Nothing had prepared him for the sensation of being emotionally whirled up into the air, spun round and round and finally dropped back down to earth to find that nothing at all was the same as it had been before.

And that was why he was here, in the darkness, trying to snatch some deep, calming breaths, trying to centre himself again, trying to see if he could find the Kaito he thought he was, or discover whether that Kaito had been totally destroyed by the passionate, sensual volcano that had suddenly erupted inside his head and his heart.

And all for the worst possible person in the whole world. A person he neither trusted nor truly liked. A man who lived up to his nickname in both business life and it seemed, his private one.

"Kaito?"

The voice, male, came from above him, from the terrace that he had just left. Of course, he knew instantly who it was. Already that tone, the true sound of his voice was etched into his brain, impossible now to hope to erase.

"Kaito!"

He wanted to stay silent, stay hidden. He didn't feel ready to face him, particularly not now when he was alone with him, when there was no one else here; no one to dilute the powerful impact of his presence.

He watched the fleet of elegant cars arrive at the door of the house, watched all the other guests get in and drive away, and all the time Shinichi kept him by his side, his hand on Kaito's arm, as he said goodbye, shook hands, watched them leave. Each time a new car had appeared he had hoped that this would be his chance to escape. To leave and hurry back to the hotel, where he would be able to go to the haven of his room and sit quietly, reflecting on all that had happened.

He had to wait for a car because as a best man he hadn't brought a bag with him, no money-nothing. So he was totally dependent on whatever Shinichi might decide.

But never once had Shinichi turned to him, held the car door open, helped him into it. Instead he had seemed oblivious of his presence at his side until he had finally had enough and stepped forward, tugging on his arm.

"I hope you have a car for me soon," he'd began, the need to be gone making his voice rough and uneven. "I need to get back…"

The words died on his tongue as he saw his glittering eyes flash over him in cool assessment as he shook his head.

"Not yet."

"Not yet?" he could only echo in shock and consternation.

"What do you mean, not yet?"

"We have things to discuss," he said.

"We do?"

Shinichi's head moved in agreement and he reached out to touch one finger to his cheek.

"We do."  
>Before he could take it any further he had turned back to another departing guest, switching on a smile that had none of the stunning impact he had seen earlier. And unless he created a scene, throwing a tantrum in front of everyone, there was nothing he could do but wait and watch everyone else leave while inside his head the words that Shinichi had used earlier circled round and round.<p>

_I'm not ready to let you go… You're here because I want you here._

Then he'd taken them as a compliment. Now he was no longer sure. Had he been here all afternoon because he wanted to use his company to distract him from the public stab at his pride that had been his jilting at the altar? Or was he, as a slow, creeping sense of dread was starting to make his fear, here as some sort of a prisoner, the reasons for which he couldn't begin to guess?

"What are you doing down here?"  
>Staying silent hadn't worked. He'd known he was here all the time. Either that, or some faint movement he hadn't been aware of making had given him away.<p>

Just the sound of his footsteps coming swiftly down the flight of stone steps, bringing him to his side, made his whole body quiver in response.

"I needed a break-a breath of air."  
>"I know how you feel. It's been a long day."<p>

There it was again, that note in his tone that suggested the reception that had now come to an end had been a strain for him too.

He came to sit beside him, his lean body a darker shadow in the gathering dusk, and on the still air he caught a waft of the scent of his skin, clean and warm and faintly musky. Instantly he was transported back to the moments earlier, inside his beautiful house, when he had been held in his arms as they danced. Shinichi had been so near him then that he had felt his breath on his skin as he bent his head close to his, and the strong, steady thud of his heart under the hard ribcage had beat under the touch of his hand so that he had sensed his own pulse rate kick up instantly in response.

He had felt surrounded by him, enclosed by his touch, lost in the sight, the sound, the feel of him. And the sensation had overwhelmed him. He didn't like the way that he made him feel, and yet at the same time it was all that he wanted to feel.

And it was a sensation that, disturbingly, was creeping over him again as Shinichi came close once more. His fingers itched to reach out and touch his arm in the white shirt that gleamed in the moonlight. He wanted to feel the warmth of his skin, inhale its scent on each indrawn breath. He wanted to know what those beautiful lips tasted like, how it felt to tangle his fingers in the dark fall of his hair and press their tips against the fine bones of his skull. He wanted it so much and yet at the same time it terrified him to be feeling out of control, to have so lost so much of himself.

"But those were all your friends…"

And the family, he had been going to add but, recalling his reaction earlier, he swallowed down the words hastily, not knowing whether they were safe to let fall out or not.

"If they were real friends, do you think I would have needed to go through the farce of holding a reception for a wedding that hadn't taken place? Too many of them were business acquaintances, people it is important for me to know."  
>"That's a very cynical approach."<br>"I'm a very cynical person."

* * *

><p>Sorry peeps ...<p>

I had to cut it here...

I'm still constructing some stuffs here for the lemony scene :)

~alex


	12. Chapter 12

Hi everyone.

Bear with me I'm still writing up the lemon :)

waaaaah this I'm having a hard time writing it up. I dunno how and where to start.

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

**TheClover1212: **here's a new chapter for you :)

**Aniki-xvi: **updating :)

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: I already updated .. Please keep reading :)

**LyndsiMcKay**: here ... :) I already updated ... I'm happy that you sent a review even if it wasn't your habit :) I hope you'll still continue reading the chapters..

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R TWELVE<strong>

_'Real beauty is not what the eyes can behold but what the heart can hold. _

_What we see with our eyes will vanish someday,_

_ but what we store in our heart will forever stay.'_

_~Kaitou KID_

_**oOo**_

The harshness of his tone made him catch his breath against the impulse to ask just what had made him that way. What had turned him into a man who saw marriage as a business arrangement, the way to provide himself with a heir without any need for or thought of love? But every instinct warned that he wouldn't welcome the question from him, and right now he didn't want to risk pushing him too far when he didn't know what his mood might be. Better to be careful when he felt as if he was treading on eggshells.

"Someone once told me that to become cynical you first had to be an idealist and it was the loss of those ideals that created the disillusionment."

"Truly?"

Shinichi's harsh bark of laughter made him flinch inside.

"Then I fear I must be the exception that proves the rule. I was born without any ideals to lose. And if I'd had them, they would not have lasted very long as I grew up."

"That sounds a very sad way to live."

"While you were born with stars in your eyes and a belief in fairy tales and a happy-ever-after?"

He had very nearly convinced him, Shinichi reflected disbelievingly. He had caught him off guard and actually sounded as if he had meant what he had been saying. It must be the effect of the moonlight or the glass or two of wine he'd drunk. He wasn't usually so easily conned.

"No fairy tales." Kaito shook his head. "I'd be a fool to think that, wouldn't I, with my mom and dad's example before me?"

Clear-he'd forgotten that he was the son of Chikage's first husband. The marriage that ended in pieces.

"What happened?"

"Mouri happened. My dad almost died." His tone was wry. "From the minute he came into mom's life she couldn't think straight. She tumbled into an affair- and when she found out she was expecting Ran, she came straight home and told my father that she wanted a divorce causing my father's heartache."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"How do you think it would make me feel  
>? You have to understand, I was more than a year old-I'd lost my dad. My mom lived with someone else."<p>

Oh, he understood all right. So much more than he could imagine.

"You didn't want to be with your mom-live in Beika?"

The look he turned on him was pure bemusement.

"I wouldn't have it given."

When he saw his faint frown of confusion, his mouth curved into a quick smile.

"It was the last thing I wanted," he explained. "That was the way Mouri wanted to live but it wouldn't have suited me. Besides, Mouri wouldn't have wanted me and I wanted to stay with my father. He needed me.

"He took it badly?"  
>"That's an understatement! Mom broke his heart and he almost gave up on things."<p>

"And yet you still believe in love?"

This time his smile was wider, the light in his eyes brighter, making them a glowing, soft violet.

"I didn't say it that way. Dad did eventually meet someone else. They've been married ten years now, and I've never seen him happier. And even if Mouri isn't exactly my sort of person…" His tone made it plain that this was a careful understatement. "Mom adores him and she's never looked at any other man since. Mom and Dad married the wrong people first time round. So, yes, I'd like to think that there's someone for us all out there."

"And is there someone for you?"

"Me?"

He looked flustered by the question, turning wide, surprised eyes on his face. And suddenly he knew a momentary sense of unease at the thought that there might be some person he was seeing. Not that he doubted that he could make him forget about any rival if there was one. It would just be an unwanted obstacle that he would have to get rid of.

"No-there's no one."

His gaze dropped, eyelids half closing as he answered, and he was glad that he didn't catch the faint smile of satisfaction that he couldn't quite suppress. At least Ran had spoken the truth when he said that his brother was unattached. But when the suddenly down-bent head brought the unfortunate and unflattering hairstyle yet again to his attention, making him frown in disapproval.

"Come here…" he said softly, that sense of satisfaction growing as he saw the way his head came up sharply, his eyes locking with his in surprise.

Deliberately he held that shocked gaze for a moment longer, wondering if he knew that his thoughts were so transparent, able to read only too clearly in his eyes. He thought he was going to kiss him; it was written all over his face. He thought he was going to kiss him and if he did then he wouldn't object. In fact, Kaito wanted Shinichi to kiss him, so much that those soft, rose-tinted lips had actually parted in anticipation. He could kiss him now and he wouldn't do a thing to stop him. ON the contrary, he would actively encourage him.

This was precisely why he was not going to do it. Oh, he wanted to kiss him. It was quite surprising-almost shocking-how much he wanted to kiss Kaito. But he wasn't going to give in to that desire. He was interested now, willing even, but he wanted him more than interested, more than willing. He wanted him eager, and keen-he wanted him hungry and needing. He wanted him totally hooked so that when he made his move he could reel him in without him even having realized that he had been caught.

This brother was not going to escape him. This one was not going to run out on the deal before they even got to the altar.

"This has to go…"

Reaching out, he buried his fingers in Kaito's hair and fixed the unruly soft brown tendrils. Although he carefully kept his attention apparently fixed on the task in hand, he was well aware of the way that Kaito's expression had changed, his face dropping, that anticipatory light leaving his eyes and something very close to disappointment clouding them.

Which was just what he wanted.

He loosened each hair strand so he could bury his fingers deeper in the smooth strands. His hair was amazingly silky; it slid underneath his fingertips like slippery satin, fine and sleek and so sensual to the touch. The twisting feeling low down in his body was so unexpected, so powerful that for a moment he paused, fingers still tangled in Kaito's hair as he fought down the very primitive masculine response.

"I'm surprised you don't have a blinding headache after keeping your hair like this all day."

He made himself say it calmly, his tone under control; he even let himself stroke his fingers along the silky strands, enjoying the feel of it against his skin, making his scent rise to his nostrils again.

"I have-had," Kaito admitted.

Instinctively he arched his neck, pressing his skull back against his fingers and shaking his head to feel his hair.

"That feels so much better."

Shinichi fought a battle with himself against the urge to tangle his fingers with Kaito's hair, twisting it to hold him just where he wanted while he kissed his newly softened mouth. But he did allow himself to comb his hand through it.

"Then why did you ever wear it like that?"  
>"Oh, it was Mouri's idea. He planned everything for this wedding. He wanted it to be perfect for…"<p>

His voice faded away and he saw the hesitation and uncertainty in his eyes as he looked at him, white teeth digging into the swell of his bottom lip.

"You can say her name," he said softly."The world won't come to an end if you mention your sister. So everything had to be perfect for a wedding Ran wasn't going to attend."

"No..."

That made him bite into his lip even more and, unable t6o stop himself, he reached out a finger and laid it across his mouth, easing it away from the sharp teeth that worried at it.

"Don't," he said, as much as to himself than to Kaito, because the sooner he had touched the softness of his skin that he wanted to linger, to stroke his fingertip along his mouth, feel its soft flesh give underneath his touch, perhaps even slide into the moist warmth at one corner. That way he would be forced to taste him, to know the flavor of his skin against his tongue.

The need to taste him too, to know the softness and the warmth of his mouth under him was like a savage clutch on his senses, tugging them into burning life. He wanted to take that slightly trembling lips and crush it underneath his until it quivered in a totally different way, shaking in raw surrender to the passion he awoke in him. But still he hel back. And he knew that that piqued and provoked him from the way taht his brows drew together in a quick, faint frown, one that he immediately hurried to smooth out again.

"I don't think he planned to run out on you when he agreed to the wedding."  
>"You don't?"<p>

"No."

The word snagged in his breath, making him gasp as he spoke. His reaction was as much to what Shinichi was doing as to the things he was trying to say. Those wickedly enticing, tantalizing hands were still in his hair, smoothing and stroking, and every inch of the surface of his skin tingled in sensual reaction to the feel of his touch.

And he had been so sure that he had been about to kiss him just a moment before. The way that that stanged, light eyed gaze had lingered on his mouth had made his throat dry in shock and anticipation. He could almost feel a sensation as if his lips were touching his, so intent was that stare, almost a physical caress in itself.

"She wanted the wedding to start with-wanted you."

"Until you persuaded her otherwise."  
>Something had changed, altering the atmosphere dramatically. His hand had stilled as he spoke and without the slow, hypnotic stroking he suddenly felt a chill creeping over his skin. There was something he had been forgetting—that his mind had dodged away from, but he should have been thinking of it all along. A man like Shinichi wasn't likely to simply accept a platonic relationship. Not with the woman he had planned on marrying.<p>

"Don't!"

In a purely instinctive reaction he pulled his head away from his caressing hand, rounding on his sharply and wincing as a few tangled strands caught on his fingers and tugged painfully at his scalp.

"Stop it!"

Shaking himself free from the clinging hair, Shinichi lifted both his hands, fingers spread wide, but the dark mockery that gleamed in his eyes in the moonlight made a nonsense of the gesture of apparent surrender.

"And what precisely, dear, am I supposed to stop?"

It was meant to provoke and it succeeded.

"If you think I want to be mauled by someone who was my sister's lover-or that I'm going to let into my bed any person who had just left hers then you've got another thing coming…I…"

His voice died in painful embarrassment as he saw the look that crossed his face, narrowing his eyes and clamping his lips into a thin, hard line. Too late he realized the recklessly stupid mistake he had made, the way he had given away far more of the path down which his thoughts had been going than was safe for any sort of self-preservation or hope of retaining his composure. Biting down hard on his tongue, he could only be grateful for the way t5hat the gathering shadows of the night and the pale light of the moon drained all the color from the world and so, he prayed, hid the rush of blood into his face as he recognized just how much he had betrayed by his outburst.

"Might I suggest, Kaito, that you wait at least until you are actually invited into my bed before rejecting any offer with the outrage of an appalled virgin?" he tossed at him with so much ice in his tone that Kaito almost felt the words like stabbing hailstones on his skin. "For one thing, I never slept with your sister."

"you didn't?" Embarrassment thickened his voice, heated his cheeks.

"I most definitely did not. Perhaps that w as my mistake."  
>"Your mistake? What sort of mistake?"<br>In his uncertain, apprehensive mood, Kaito found that his control of tongue had loosened and he seemed unable to force himself to think before he speaks. Nervousness just pushed the words from his mouth before he had time to consider if they were wise, or even appropriate. Smarting from that icy put-down, he only wanted to fight back and show him that he was not the gauche, naïve guy that he had het himself appear to be.

The gauche, naïve guy who had imagined him making a pass at him when I fact he had just been playing with him.

"Do you think that just because she'd shared your bed that she wouldn't be able to walk away from you? That, having one taste of your lovemaking, she would have become so addicted that she'd have to stay around for more?"

"We'll never know, will we? And I think that you are _very relieved_ that that is the case. I know that I am."

"Relieved?"

Kaito frowned his horrified confusion, unable to work out just what he had meant. He couldn't have seen right through his heart and sensed the way that, in spite of himself, in spite of the fight he had against it, he had felt a flutter of something close to assurance at the thought that his sister and Shinichi had never been lovers.

"You're not making any sort of sense. Why on earth would I be relieved?"  
>"Because, as you put it so eloquently just a moment ago, you are not going to let into your bed any person who had just left your sister's. And now that you know that Ran and I were never intimate, you are free to indulge your own needs, which I am sure is what you really want."<p>

* * *

><p>Awwwww... where am I heading to..<p>

Hahahahaha please gimme ideas!

As promised... This is a longer chapter.

Please review and tell me how you feel about it...

It'll be deeply appreciated :)

~alex


	13. Chapter 13

Hi everyone.

Another update.

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

**TheClover1212: **hahaha :) yeah right .. and here I am ... updating again ...

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: I already updated .. Please keep reading :)

**foreverandalways2310:** updating now :)

**angelwingsonline**: sorry sorry ... for the typo errors as well as the grammatical slips ... I'll try practicing that .. I already edited the 'die' part ... however as for the 'this has to go' part , shinichi just fixed kaito's hairstyle cause he thought it's giving him a headache.

**Shimizu Hikaru**: yeas they're heading there soooon ...

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R THIRTEEN<strong>

_'As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world _

_- that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.'  
>~Mohandas Gandhi<em>

_**oOo**_

No!

The rejection of his arrogant assertion was like a scream in his head, begging to be flung right in his smug, egotistical face. He had almost opened his mouth to let it out when a far too belated streak of common sense caught up with him, making him catch it back, swallow it down. Hastily adjusting his mood and dragging up some degree of control from the depths of his mind, he forced himself to look him right in the face, managing to keep himself calm in spite of the mockery that made his eyes glitter in the moonlight, the touch of a knowing smile that curved his lips at the corners.

"I also said that I didn't want to be mauled…"

That smile grew a little wider, taking his words and his composure with it. But there was no matching lightening of his eyes, and his voice was cold and clipped when he took up the challenge in his words.

"You and I both know that I wasn't _mauling_ you. I have never mauled a _MAN _in my life and I certainly was not doing so just now. For one thing you were enjoying it too much and were both-"

"I was not!"

Oh, why couldn't he keep his mouth shut? He was giving himself away, digging himself in deeper with everything he said. And he didn't believe a word of it, the skeptical expression on his handsome face, the cynically raised eyebrow said it all for him without a single thing having to be spoken.

"I was relieved to have my hair fixed-that style felt as if it was pulling it out by the roots. And you were kind enough to help me…" he managed when he didn't speak but simply sat there, his face half in shadow, half in light, clearly waiting for him to continue. "And-obviously it was a relief…"

"Obviously," Shinichi confirmed sardonically.

And then he waited again. Waited for him to go on, to fill the silence that had descended. But there was nothing he could say, nothing that would not condemn him even further in his eyes, or make him look even more of a fool than he clearly already thought him.

"And that's it."  
>"Of course it is."<p>

The cynical drawl made it so obvious that he didn't believe that was it at all. And seeing the way his glittering eyes swept over him, seeming to sear off a much needed protective layer of skin cells, made Kaito shift uncomfortably in his seat, a sensation like cold pins and needles prickling its way down his spine.

"Anything more is strictly in your imagination."  
>The way he inclined his head in what looked like an agreement but actually said exactly the opposite was positively the last straw. He couldn't sit here like this any longer, seeing the dark amusement in his eyes, listen to the taunt in his voice.<p>

"And now I'd like to go back to the hotel."

Pushing himself up from the bench, he got to his feet. Or, rather, he tried to get to his feet. But he had forgotten the way that his feet had been aching, the painful pressure that his shoes had put on his feet, which was why he had kicked them off as soon as he had sat down. Freed from the cramped tightness of the leather, his feet had swollen and the raw spots were not fully exposed. As he tried to stand on the cool tiled surround, the force of his own weight only made things so much worse, so that he couldn't hold back a yelp of distress as pain shot through his feet and made him close his eyes in distress.

"What the…"

From behind his eyelids he sensed rather than saw the way that Shinichi got sharply to his feet, his hands coming out instinctively as he swayed, almost dancing on the spot to avoid putting any more pressure on the soreness of his feet.

"What is wrong?"  
>"My feet…"<p>

It was all that he could manage through stiff, taut lips that he had clamped tightly shut in order to hold back the weak whimper of distress at the pain. And when he opened his eyes to look up at him, seeing what looked like genuine concern in his shadowed face, the hope of saying anything more slipped right way from him in the blink of an eye.

"Barefooted?" Shinichi glanced down, apparently noticing for the first time the fact that he was barefoot, with his shoes tossed over to one side, almost hidden underneath the bench. "Here-sit down again."

Strong hands pushed him back unto the seat and he sank down with a sigh of relief as the movements took the pressure off his feet and enabled him to lift them up slightly, taking them off the ground once again.

"Let me see…"  
>Kaito could only blink in confusion and disbelief as in a stunningly graceful move Shinichi went down on one knee before him. His heart thudded painfully in his chest as he leaned forward and picked up both feet, cradling them softly in his hands as he angled them towards the light. His touch was cool and gentle, soothing to the raw patches of his skin.<p>

"What the hell!" He cursed under his breath, the angry sound reaching him in the stillness of the night. "What has happened here?"

The change of mood from the taunting of just moments before was so swift, so unexpected that it made his head come up sharply. And it was only when he saw how the outline of the moon had blurred so unexpectedly that he realized that sudden moisture was swimming in his eyes in response to his tone.

"My shoes…" he managed through a voice that was thick with the effort to hold back the tears. That earned him a swift, searching upward glance at his face as Shinichi caught the rough sound.

If he showed any sympathy, if he was kind, then it might just finish him, Kaito admitted to himself. After the mocking attack earlier, just the thought of it made his head spin.

"Your shoes!"

To his relief his tone was far from kind. He sounded coldly angry, disbelieving, appalled even. "You wear shoes that so _this _to your feet?"

Blinking hard, Kaito peered down at the foot he was holding up for him to see. The damage was far worse than he anticipated, he acknowledged reluctantly, wincing inwardly at the sight. His skin was rubbed red raw, the leather almost etched into his skin, and there were spots here and there where the pressure had actually been so great that it had taken off the surface.

"I didn't realize they were that bad."

But Shinichi wasn't listening. Instead he had reached under the bench and pulled out the offending shoes, frowning down at them in dark disapproval. The leather shoes looked impossibly delicate as they dangled from his hands. It was hard to believe that they could have inflicted such devastation on his feet.

"What the hell possessed you to wear instruments of torture like these? You must have known they would cripple you."  
>"They were fine when I tried them on. But I'm not used to such tight leather shoes."<p>

To be honest, he'd never thought o wear them in, and the stress of the day, the tidal wave of events that had overtaken him had made it impossible to dash back to the hotel or find some other, more comfortable footwear.

He was looking down at the shoes that he still held in his hand, the frown that had drawn his brows together deepened as he did so.

"You danced with me…"  
>"Yes, I did. But…"<br>Kaito couldn't see where he was going with this.

"You danced with me, wearing these damn shoes. You tortured your feet…"

"I…"

_I didn't notice,_ he was about to say and it would have been the truth. In those moments he had felt as if he was dancing on air and any discomfort in his feet had just not registered on his pleasure-hazed brain. But to admit that was walking right into a trap. It was just giving him more ammunition for the arrogant assumptions he had been making earlier.

"They weren't hurting then. It was only when I came out here. I think that walking across the grass, coming down the steps.."

He didn't believe him, of course; his expression said that, the look he slanted at him from those cerulean eyes making the words shrivel up his tongue.

"Come here," he said, holding his hands out to him.

When he hesitated, unsure of what Shinichi planned, he muttered something rough and impatient under his breath. Then he stooped towards him, his body blotting out the sight of the moon, the scent of him enclosing Kaito, the soft fall of his hair brushing against his cheek in a way that sent a sensual shiver running down Kaito's spine. Tucked under the bench, his toes curled in uncontrollable response to his nearness.

_What are you doing….?_ He said the words inside his head, and he tried to speak them aloud but even though he opened his mouth his voice failed him and he didn't even manage a sound. But then he bent even more, sliding his hands underneath him and lifting him bodily from the seat, taking him high into the air until he held him hard against his chest, his arms like steel bands underneath him, supporting his weight with impressive ease.

"What are you doing?"

This time he managed the words, feeling them pushed out of him by the rush of shock and confusion, the heated pounding of his pulse in response to this unexpected closeness.

"Taking you inside…"

He sounded surprised that he had even had to ask. Wasn't it obvious what he was doing? His tone implied.

* * *

><p>updating ... soooooon ...<p>

I'm excited about the lemon thingy :) hahahaha

anyway .. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger ...

tell me what you think.

I'm planning to write another fic .. give me an idea ! :)

~alex


	14. Chapter 14

Update :)

**D I S C L A I M E R**

I do not own DC&MK they are the artworks of the mystery genius Gosho Aoyama.

I'm just a fan who appreciate his marvelous works.

All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama :)

**REVIEW REPLIES :)**

**TheClover1212: **yooohooo I was blushing the whole time I am writing this up :)

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: That'll come up ... hahaha :) watch out for that ...

**foreverandalways2310:** and again ... updating...

**angelwingsonline**: Yeah sorry I replied inaccurately .. :) I'm updating now ..

**Shimizu Hikaru**: yeas they're heading there soooon ...

A **BIG THANKS **TO EVERYONE WHO SEND THEIR REVIEWS ON THE STORY.

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R FOURTEEN<strong>

_'Sex is full of lies._

_The body tries to tell the truth. But, it's usually too battered with rules to be heard, _

_and bound with pretenses so it can hardly move. _

_We cripple ourselves with lies.'  
>~Jim Morrison<em>

_**oOo**_

"You can't walk on those feet, so this is the best way to get you indoors before you injure yourself even more."

"But-"

"Shhhhhhhh! Silent!" The command was hard, sharp. He would be a fool to ignore it, that was plain. "This is what is happening-no argument."

NO argument now,maybe, Kaito thought as he carried him back up the steps towards the house, but when they got back inside he would find plenty of argument.

However, it was a struggle to collect up any rational thoughts to do so as every cell in his body seemed determined to respond to the closeness of Shinichi's hard male body, the strength of his arms supporting him, the wall of his chest pressed up against his cheek. Under his ear he could hear the steady, heavy thud of his heart and his own pulse seemed to set up a matching beat so that he wasn't sure where his heart rate ended or his' began. After a long and difficult day he knew a weak and foolish urge to simply lay his head against his strength, close his eyes and let everything drift. But a strong sense of self-preservation demanded that he should not give in to it. There was something here that he didn't quite understand, some thread of darkness running through everything Shinichi said or did. And he needed to get to the bottom of it before he could allow himself to relax-if ever.

"Here..."

The lights inside the house dazzled after the gathering darkness outside, making him blink and bury his face against his chest once more. So he felt the change in his movements but only registered slowly what it meant, realizing too late that he had carried him upstairs.

"Now, wait a minute..."

HIs head came up again sharply, the words snapping from him as he kicked a door open.

"Just what do you think you're doing...?"

"I'm trying to do something about your feet," Kaito could hear the faint touch of mocking laughter in Shinichi's voice, setting his teeth even more on edge. "You need to have those cuts cleaned, and-"

"In a _bedroom_?"

He tried to struggle free but had his attempts thwarted when Shinichi simply dumped him down unto the soft, yielding surface of a wide queen size bed.

"I'll need water and cloths-both in the bathroom," he explained in a tone of such exaggerated patience that made his words anything but tolerant, "and you might need sticking plasters. Besides which..."

HIs arm swept in a wide circle to indicate the huge room and its decor.

"I can assure you this is not _my_ room!"

Not unless he had suddenly developed a predilection for pink and frills, Kaito admitted, forcing himself to subside back unto the bed.

He was right in one thing, he acknowledged privately. His poor feet did need attention. He'd been a fool to keep on wearing the shoes when they had stated to rub so badly, but then he had no real choice. His only other shoes were miles away in the hotel where he had prepared to be the best man at the wedding-such a long time ago, it now seemed. And unless he was to go back there barefooted then he needed something to make him more comfortable.

So he bit his lip and kept quiet, submitting into Shinichi's ministrations, determined not to let him or anything he said or did get into him in any way.

And that was a resolution that he found impossible to stick to. If he thought that Shinichi's touch had been gentle before, then now it was soft as a carress. The warmth of the water and antiseptic oitment soothed and numbed the raw patches on his skin, and the sticking plasters he applied seemed to have magical healing properties in them.

But he would have been a liar if he hadn't admitted that he was far more affected by the sight of this stunning man kneeling at his feet once again, and tending to his injuries with the gentleness of a lover. The urge to reach out and touch him, to stroke his hands across the black silk of his hair, or along the line of his jaw, was almost more than he could bear. He had to actually slide his hands underneath his thighs to keep them safe from straying into that dangerous temptation.

And then when he finished, sat back on his heels, looked up into his face and directed that devastating smile straight at him, he felt his heart seem to stop for a moment, making him catch his breath in shock.

"I think that will help."

"It will do more than help," he managed in a voice that sounded as if it was about to break in the middle. "They feel wonderful."

"I'm glad." Shinichi pushed himslef to his feet, took the bowl from the small table on which it stood and headed for the bathroom to empty out the cooling water. "So now we can talk."

How had he done that? Kaito wondered. How had he managed to inject a note into the otherwise innocuous words that made his whole body tense, every nerve stretching tight and tingling in wary apprehension, even the fine hairs on his skin lifting uneasily?

"Talk about what?"

"About where we go from here."

Shinichi came to lean in the doorway, blue eyes fixed on his face as he swiveled round on the bed to face him.

"The only place we go from here is downstairs.." And preferably right out of the house. I have no wish to be alone with you!"

"But I thought that was the plan all along, Kaito."

The words were hissed at him with an icy control that transformed him totally. Suddenly the concerned man whose gentle touch had brought tears to his eyes had vanished and in his place was the cold-eyed, hard-faced fiend who had sent shivers down his spine in the first moment he had been introduced to him.

The man he had wondered how his sister could possibly love.

And yet somehow throughout the day his opinion had changed. He had even found himself attracted to this man. He wanted Shinichi to kiss him, to hold him.

So which one was the real Shinichi Kudo?

There was a nasty, slimy sensation crawling over his skin as he faced the fact that the man he had felt himslef so drawm=n to was in fact the performance planned to deceive. And that he, like a stupid gulible fool, had fallen straight into the trap he had set for him.

"Plan? What plan? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know of any plan."

"No? Forgive me if I dont believe you Kaito, but I refuse to believe tha your parents didn't have a back-up plan."

"A back-up plan to what?"

Had the man gone mad? Was he seeing conspiracy where there was none? And if so, who exactly were the conspirators?

"They must have known that your sister was likely to run at the last minute, or perhaps that was what was meant to happen all along. And then what was I supposed to do? Take one look at the best man and fall head over heels so that I would forget about Ran?

"No."

Kaito shooked his head that his hair flew wildly around his face.

"No way!"  
>But Shinichi obviously wasn't listening. One more of those arrogant flicks of his hand dismissed his protest.<p>

"So, all right," he said coldly, "I'll take the bait."

"What?"

He couldn't have said what he thought he'd heard. It just wasn't possible that he meant...

"There was supposed to be a wedding, with Chikage's child. It doesn't matter which one."

With his hands in his lap, Kaito pinched himself hard on one palm, trying to convince himself that this wasn't actually happening and he was just in the middle of a bad dream. The pain was sharp, making him wince and driving away any hope that he might somehow drifted asleep.

"You are joking!"  
>"NO joke." Shinichi shrugged off his horrified protest. "One of Chikage's child is as good as any other when it was only meant to be a perfect marriage-"<p>

"What sort of a cold blooded monster are you?"

Kaito forced himself to stand, ignoring the agonized protests from his sore feet. He couldn't just sit there and let him tower over him with that dark look in his eyes, the curl to his lips that he couldn't tell was a smile or a sneer.

"Perfect marriage or not-marriage of convenience or whatever-you can't just swap one erson for another because you want to!"

"Oh, but I can." Shinichi assured him icily, snatching away what little was left of his breath as he struggled to inhale naturally while his heart was thudding frantically against his ribcage. "A deal is a deal and no one breaks their word to me and gets away with it."

But it was Ran who had broken her promise to marry him! Kaito felt as if his world was spinning out of control and he didn't know whether he was on his head or on his heels. Even if he wanted to sue for breach of promise then surely he couldn't go this far.

"Or maybe this was what you and your family had planned all along. You baited the hook with the glamorous sister, always knowing that she was going to run out on me,"

And leave him with the mirror-like almost identical face of a man same his age. He didn't have to say the words-they were buried in his callous declaration, aimed at him like a slap in the face, as cold and as cruel as any physical blow.

"There was no plan. And I have NO intention of MARRYING YOU."

"You don't have any choice. It's either that or watch your family go to the wall."

"Why aren't you listening? I don't want to marry you. And for God's sake... We are BOTH GUYS!"

His words made no sense and they barely registered as he flung his angry response into his arrogant, beautiful face. His look was totally blanked off, eyes opaque. And Kaito was grateful for that strange lack of expression. Anything more and he would have lost the fight he was already having not to lift his hand and lash out at him, wipe the condescension from his carved features. As it was, his fingers twitched at his sides, twisting in his pants as sought for control.

"I don't want anything to do with you."

That got through him.

"And we both know that had to be a lie," he tossed back at him, an unholy amusement lightning in those pale blue eyes as they gleamed down at him. "Outside, by the pool, youw ere mine for the taking."

"No, _that's_ he lie! I never-"

"Oh, come now Kaito," Shinichi mocked. "If I'f kissed you, you wouldn't have spared a thought for your sister or for anyone else. You would have melted into my arms..."

But that was just too much. The knowledge that he hadn't seen anything other that what he had really been feeling wasn't enough to hold him back as a terrible sense of having been manipulated, played like a puppet with Shinichi holding the strings, blazed like a firestorm inside his head.

"A kiss maybe-but not this! This is crazy! Mad! Impossible!"  
>"No it is not," Shinichi returned smoothly. "To my mind it's completely possible-the perfect solution. Ran run out on me, but you are right here. So now you can take your sister's place."<p>

* * *

><p>CUT !<p>

Please review ...

I loved your comments and suggestion people ! :)

~alex


	15. Chapter 15

I'm sorry for the late update.

I would also want to apologize for the grammatical/ typo errors

And I keep on promising to post the lime part.

I'm really sorry peeps..

I don't think I need to add the disclaimer now as I made it clear on the start of the story.

**R E V I E W R E P L I E S **after the story :)

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R FIFTEEN<strong>

'_To be nobody but you in a world that is doing its best,_

_Night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle_

_that any human being can fight; and never stop fighting..'_

_~ Erin Evolet_

**oOo**

_SO NOW YOU can take your sister's place._

It was impossible. The man was mad~he had to be.

"No way! It's just not happening!"

"And why not, hmm?" Shinichi shot back. "Why is that so impossible?"

"Because~because were both LITERALLY MALE! You don't know me. I don't know you."

"I know that I like what I see and I believe that you do too."

"Well, yes..."

The answer was snatched from his lips before he had time to consider just how foolish he was in admitting it. The look of dark satisfaction that crossed Shinichi's face, burning in his eyes, curling the corners of his lips, made his blood run both hot and cold in exactly the same moment that he trembled as if he was in the grip of some dangerous fever.

_I like what I see._ Had he really said that about him? After years of living in Ran's shadow, of hearing his sister described as the perfect one, the one who had men buzzing round her like bees around a honey pot, it shook him rigid that a person like Shinichi would actually express his feelings so bluntly. But it was a huge jump from that to saying that he wanted to marry him!

"So you must see..."

"No. No, I see nothing because there is nothing to see. Nothing at all! How can there be when we have said nothing-admitted nothing-but that we like the look of-that we fancy each other? How can you claim anything so ridiculous, so preposterous, as to say that you-you've...?"

He couldn't say it, no matter how many times he opened his mouth and tried to force his tongue to form the words, he couldn't bring himself to echo the wildly impossible declaration that he had made just moments before.

Shinichi, however, had no such problem.

"That I'll take you as my wife? Why not? I never wanted your sister as I want you."

"But you..." Kaito began but then the realization of just what he had said sunk into his numbed brain. "Is that the truth?"  
>"Why should I lie to you, Kai?"<p>

Shinichi's tone was suddenly soft. His gaze still held his as he spoke, his eyes so deep and clear that he felt they were like a still, smooth sea in which he risked drowning, going in over his head completely.

Kaito wished that he could look away, but he found it impossible to drag his gaze from that mesmerizing stare of his, the look that seemed to search right to the depths of his soul and know exactly what was hidden there.

"But..."

HIs head was spinning, the room seeming to blur around him.

"But how can you know that? You haven't even kissed me..."

Shinichi pushed both hands through the gleaming darkness of his hair in a gesture that could have been taken as showing that he was relaxing, easing some of the tension that held his long body taut. But his eyes said exactly the opposite. They were as cold and sharp, as predatory as ever.

"That is something that is soon remedied."

To his horror he crossed the room, skirting the table with a lithe, elegant movement, coming towards him with his intent clear on his face.

"No..."

Kaito's hands came up as if to ward off danger, and immediately he started backing away, taking hasty steps away from him. But the truth was that he knew that what he feared deep inside wasn't really Shinichi but himself. The memory of those moments in the garden was burned into his mind, and he knew he would never forget how he had felt when he leaned towards him and he had been so sure that he was going to kiss him.

If his heart had picked up a beat then, now it was thudding so hard that his blood pulsed like a thunderstorm inside his head, pounding at his temples until he was unable to think. He had wanted that kiss so much and it had stung so badly when he had withheld it at the last minute. And he had known the way he was feeling, he was positive of that.

So now he knew what he was doing as he came towards him with that look in his eye, his gaze fixed on his lips. And he was afraid of himself, not for himself. He was afraid of his own reaction, of the way he might respond to him if he kissed him. If he felt this way already, then how much more might he feel if...when...?

So, "No!" he said again, more urgently this time, moving backwards all the while, not looking where he was putting his feet because he did not dare to take his eyes from Shinichi's face, seeing the way it was hard and set, tight with determination and resolve. "No, Shinichi- I-Oh!"

The exclamation was forced from him in shock as the back of his legs hit something-the side of the bed, from the feel of it. Knocked off balance and unable to stay upright, he suddenly plonked down unto the quilt, all the breath escaping from his lungs in a rush so that he gasped out loud as he landed.

And still Shinichi prowled closer, sleekly dangerous, like some elegant hunting panther that knew it had its prey totally cornered and was enjoying delaying the moment of pouncing until the very last second.

He tried to get up, but it was as if all the bones had been removed from his legs and he couldn't find the strength to push himself to his feet. And suddenly he was there. Looming over him, with one hand each side of him, long, lean, bronzed fingers spread out over the crisp white cotton, square-tipped nails immaculate.

For the first time,seeing them this close, he noted a scar that ran across the knuckles of the right hand. Obviously made a long time before, it was just a fine, silvery line in the pale skin, but his fingers itched to reach out and trace their way along it, and the need to ask how it had happened burned on his tongue.

But in the same moment Shinichi spoke his name, his voice low and soft, disturbingly cajoling, and instantly he forgot what he was thinking, every last trace wiped from his mind. The scarred hand moved, sliding down his chin, lifting his face towards his, and his head bent slowly, his beautiful lips coming closer to his inch by infinite inch.

He's stopped breathing. His mouth was painfully dry but his throat seemed paralyzed unable to swallow, and he couldn't do anything to ease it. He was sure that even his heart had ceased to beat, though the blood still throbbed at his temples and at the vulnerable pulse point at the base of his throat. The way he held him, with his proud head, his handsome face coming between him and the light, meant that he could look nowhere but into his eyes, seeing the way that his pupils had expanded, black where they had once been cerulean blue.

Suddenly afraid of what his own eyes might reveal, he lowered his lids hastily, retreating inside himself, fighting the need that simply having him so close was already sparking off inside him. But his temporary blindness only made matters so much worse, heightening every other sense to painful sharpness. He could smell his skin and the faint tang of some citrus soap or shampoo that lingered on his body, hear the soft sound of his chest rising and falling as he drew air into his lungs.

"Kaito," Shinichi murmured and he felt his breath against his lips, snatching it in with the oxygen he needed so that he felt he could already taste him in his mouth, against his tongue.

But when his lips finally touched his, it was as if he had known anything like it before in his life. As if he had never been kissed before, never felt the brush of another human's lips against his own at any other time, with anyone else in the world.

After the force of his approach, the power of his movements as he strode towards him, he might have expected that his kiss would be forceful too. His whole body was tense, waiting for the impact of his mouth on his, the feeling close to being punished for daring to challenge him, for defying his declaration that he wanted him. So it was a shock to his system when his kiss was the softest, most gentle touch he could have imagined, a butterfly-wing stroke of his lips to his with a delicacy that tore at his heart, drawing out his soul and making him sigh his response straight into his caressing mouth.

Just one kiss and then he drew back again. And the ache of loss when he did so was almost more that he could bear, bringing an involuntary murmur of protest that ther was no way he could hold back.

"Patience, Kai-chan.."

Never before had his voice sounded so sexy, so enticing, and behind his closed eyelids he could almost hear the smile that curved his seductive lips.

Shinichi...

His name sounded in his head, never quite reaching his tongue because even as he tried to speak, he kissed him again with just the faintest increase of pressure so that his heart kicked against his ribs, his senses swimming.

Again he kissed him, and again, harder each time, until he was breathless with response and with the growing need that Shinichi had sparked off inside him. Each time his lips touched his he wanted it to last forever and each time he took them away again, he felt as if something was breaking up inside, splintering into a thousand tiny, yearning, needy pieces.

"Shinichi!"

* * *

><p><strong>REVIEW REPLIES:<strong>

**tenten32158**: I'm starting the fun now :)

**LyndsiMcKay**: already fixed the errors from last chapters. Here's the first part of the lemon hahaha

**Shimizu Hikaru**: YOU are my motivation! hahaha ... I loved your fics with Shinichi as the uke [seriously] but I wanna create something unusual :) coz I rarely see fics where Shinichi acts as the seme. I'm also planning to write a new story with Shinichi as the uke:)

**mochiusagi**: Now that's what I'm talking about :)

**DayDreaming0f y0u:** Yeah :) I LOVE screwing him up hahaha *evil laugh* here's an update ... Please review :)

Finally!

I made kissing scene...

Hahaha ... I'm so sorry for hanging it there, I'm still composing my thoughts :)

Anyway, please let me know if you love it, hate it or whatever feeling you felt while reading this.

Please bear with me .. It's 12.50am EST and I wasn't able to grab some sleep for 36 hours now.

PLease leave your reviews :)

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!

~alex


	16. Chapter 16

**C H A P T E R SIXTEEN**

_'Sex is like washing your face - just something you do because you have to._

_Sex without love is absolutely ridiculous. Sex follows love, it never precedes it.'  
>~ Sophia Loren<em>

**oOo**

The sound of his name brought Kaito's lips against Shinichi in the first kiss he had given him and the sensation of it was like a bolt of burning lightning flashing through him, making his toes curl, his hands clench against his sides, fighting the need to reach out and touch him, to lace his hands in the midnight dark silk of his hair, feel it around his fingers. Heat was building in his veins, hunger uncoiling in the pit of his stomach. And obviously, Shinichi felt it too because he slid both hands around his face, cupping the bones of his skull and holding his head in just the right position so that he could deepen the kiss, bring his mouth open under his.

Or did he respond to him in this way? Kaito had no idea who reacted to whom and when. He only knew that now he desperately needed Shinichi to give him more than the gentle caresses that had stunned him so much at first. That he needed more than softness, than a delicacy of touch. He needed heat and hardness, strength and pressure. He needed to feel the power of his hands, the tightness of the muscles in his arms as they closed around him, lifting him from his seat.

Or did he stand up to him?

He didn't know the answer to that, only knew that somehow he was on his feet, pressed tight against the hard strength of his body, feeling the warmth of Shinichi enclose him as he drew in the clean scent of his skin.

His mouth was no longer gentle but demanding in the way he had feared it might be from the start. Now he had no fear of that demand and met it with a hunger of his own, pressure for pressure, need for need. Now his hands were free to tangle in his hair as he had wanted, but as soon as he had his wish he knew that it wasn't enough. He wanted more. Wanted to touch him everywhere, to feel the strength of muscle and bone underneath his searching fingers, slide in at the open neck of his white shirt and know the satiny warmth of his skin, the crisp feel of his body tickling his palm.

One of Shinichi's hands as in his hair, twisting to hold him still, to keep his mouth just where he wanted it, while the other roamed over his body. Shinichi's tongue tangles with his, tasting the innermost warmth of his mouth, mirroring the more intimate dance towards which they were heading. And they were heading that way. There was no doubt of that at all in Kaito's mind. This heat, this hunger, this yearning intensity could not lead to anywhere else. It was as if someone had started the countdown to a nuclear explosion and there was no way of stopping it that wouldn't result in an even more dramatic meltdown than the one they had triggered between them.

"I want you," Shinichi muttered against his mouth, his voice sounded so raw that the words were almost incomprehensible.

But there was no need of words with the heated evidence of his arousal pressed against Kaito's stomach, with his touch growing harder, more demanding with every pass they made over his body. The heat of his fingers over his chest had his nipple peaking in urgent response, pushing wantonly into his palm so that the brush of his fingers was a stinging pleasure, sending sensation rushing from this most sensitive point to flood the rest of his body with need. Kaito moaned aloud at the feel of it, hearing Shinichi laugh deep in his throat as he caught his response against his lips, kissing it back into his mouth, Shinichi's taste blending with his own until he didn't know where he ended or Shinichi began.

And that was how he wanted it in every cell in his body. The primal heat that his kisses had started within him licked along every nerve, pooling down between his own hardness where a pulse of desire beat a primitive tattoo so that when he half walked, half carried him backwards to the larger settee he went with him willingly, too lost in sensation, too mindless with need to think of anything beyond the moment. And when the backs of his legs hit the side of the bed as they had done earlier he tumbled down onto the downy quilt, carried further and faster with Shinichi's weight coming down on top of him.

His hands were under his dress shirt now, pushing the blue material down his arms to expose his heated skin, fingertips trailing burning patterns over his body so that he writhed in unrestrained delight at the sensations his touch created.

"Want you too," he muttered urgently, his voice not sounding like his own, it was so rough and raw with need.

"Kiss me-touch me..."

_Take me,_ he longed to say but even now some last remaining hint of restraint kept a check on his tongue. There was no going back, he knew that deep in his soul. It would tear him apart if he stopped now, when his body was aching for him, straining towards him, almost screaming the need to know his full possession, the total union of their bodies, skin on skin, flesh against flesh, hunger matching hunger.

But he couldn't quite bring himself to voice that need. Didn't dare to put his yearning into words, to strip away the carefully protective mask he had felt the urge to wear in front of this man. Stripping his clothes off was one thing. That was what he wanted more than anything in the world-to be physically naked with him. But emotional nakedness was quite another matter. That was something he didn't dare reveal to him. It would be like putting his soul under a microscope and letting him dissect it with a cold, brutal steel knife.

Needy fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, tugging them free with impatient movements as the other did the same. Exposing Shinichi's skin brought a sudden rush of the warm, slightly musky scent of his skin as he inhaled it like some rich perfume, feeling the impact of it hit him as if it was a raw aphrodisiac.

"Shinichi..."

His tormenting hands had moved further inwards, stroking his chest only a second or two under his knowing fingers. And all trace of embarrassment, all trace of thought, fled from his mind as he stroked caressing thumbs over each taut nipple, making him gasp aloud at the shock of stinging arousal.

Kaito caught the faint sound of his laughter once more as the other kissed him again, taking that gasp into his own lips and swallowing it down without taking his lips from him. And all the time his hands worked magic on his chest, stroking, teasing, caressing until he was writhing under his touch, almost out of his mind with pleasure.

"I knew this was how it would be," Shinichi muttered against his skin as that hot, demanding mouth started to move downwards, over his chin, along the sensitive line of his throat, leaving a trail of burning kisses everywhere it touched.

"Knew how it had to be..."

Kaito felt his tongue touch him too, slick and warm, lingering over the spot where his pulse beat frantically under the delicate skin at the base of his neck. Then, shocking him into lying totally still, holding his breath in stunned excitement, he moved his caresses to his chest, kisses replacing his fingers, moving slowly, sinfully, seductively upwards, until at last his lips closed over his nipple, drawing it into the heat of his mouth, teeth grazing it so very gently.

"Shinichi!"

Kaito's use of his name was a raw, primitive sound that shocked him to hear it. He hadn't known that he was capable of being so out of control, so far from civilized, and his fingers clutched in his hair, holding him still against him. This time his laughter was a warm feathering across his sensitive nipple, making him shiver and wriggle in ecstatic response.

But Kaito couldn't control his hands, and they were far from still, roaming even lower, stroking over the soft planes of his stomach, blunt fingertips circling his navel then dipping into the small, soft valley. He had barely caught his breath before they moved again, tracing slow, erotic patterns over his skin as they slid lower, easing the satin pants downwards, slipping under the silky boxers, and touched the spot that throbbed and burned in anticipation of the pleasure of his touch. Arching himself into those caressing fingers, Kaito sighed his contentment and encouragement, urging him onward, to move his hands faster...

"Oh, yes-Shinichi...please..."

Eyes closed, he reached for him blindly, arms locking around his strong neck, drawing him into Shinichi into him again so that his lips captured his once more. The feel of his breath against his cheek was as hot, as raw and uneven as his own, telling him without the need for words that he was as far beyond control as Kaito was.

"How have you done this to me?" he muttered against his mouth. "How has it come to this so fast?"

The same questions were whirling inside the latter's head but he didn't want to stop and consider them, didn't want to let them take root in any way that might make him pause and think, reconsider how he had come to be here. He simply wanted to feel, to experience this wild rush of passion. To know the full force of Shinichi's possession.

With hands that shook with need, he tugged at Shinichi's clothing, wrenching the buttons of the silk waistcoat from their fastenings, pushing it aside.

His shirt followed, buttons dispensed with more haste than finesse, the fine garment tossed aside as his hungry fingers closed over the warmth of his skin, the power of tight, clenched muscle, drawing Shinichi even closer to him.

That tormenting touch left him briefly as Shinichi dealt with the rest of his clothing, coming back to him before he had really realized that he had gone, the heat of his body coming over him like an enfolding wave, swamping his thought processes. He coiled around him so tightly that he could almost not tell where he ended or the other began. But there was still that one, vital part of him that was hungry, empty. Longing for, needing his possession. UNable to put his needs into words, he could only press himself against him, mutely imploring him to ease the agony of waiting, to take him, to take them both to the wild oblivion he could sense was just out of sight, just out of reach.

And Shinichi needed no extra urging. With his mouth still tight against Kaito, he slid one hard-muscled leg between both of his, edging them apart to open him up to him. His arms slid underneath his pliant body, raising him slightly so that his hips cradled him, Kaito's legs curling around his.

He had barely time to snatch a breath, to gather himself, before he had thrust inwards, deep and hard, taking him high into pain and delight, almost splintering him into ecstasy in the very first moment of their coming together.

"Shinichi!" his name was a cry of wonder, of shock disbelief as he clung to him, his heart thudding, eyes wide, breath shuddering in his lungs.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

There will be a continuation and aftermath of this part but that'll be on the next chapter which I will be posting soon enough. There's a reason why this their smex was like that~ they're still not that attached with each other so to speak. I'm still working out on the next chapter.

I need your help! Should I write a KaiShin fic or a ShinRan fic? help me .. I've got an idea runnin' inside my gray matter but I need the perfect characters. So take your pick and tell me through reviews :)

**REVIEW RESPONSE:**

**mochiusagi**: yeah .. I'm also glad they finally did it. hooray :)

**DayDreaming0f y0u**: don't worry I'm feeling exact the same feeling while writing this up.

**Black Phantom 1412**: I've read and loved your fics :) thanks for reading mine ... I'm updating now :D

**foreverandalways2310: **I hope it'll always be that way ...

**tenten32158**: Thank You so much for your reviews. I've read and reread my post but the only error I saw was the typographical errors. I didn't find any glaring grammatical errors. Anyway those are mere typo errors and I'll take y time next time so that the chapters will be perfectly spelled and free of errors. I'll eliminate the usage of 'he' and replace `em with the character's name so as to avoid confusion. I'm also looking forward to have a beta-reader but I have no idea how to have one. :)

Thanks a lot people :) your reviews and insights are deeply appreciated.

~alex


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer on the earlier part of the story.

I initially don't have plans on giving out smex scenes on this one however ... nature calls :) hahaha

I really need to do it so there's your lemon :)

Sorry for the confusion but the last chapter was basically Kaito's Point Of View using a third persona~ though I still set the confusion on the multiple times I used 'he'.

**R E V I E W R E P L I E S **after the chapter :)

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R SEVENTEEN<strong>

_"Sex without love is a meaningless experience, _

_but as far as meaningless experiences go its pretty damn good."_

**oOo**

"Easy Kai-chan," Shinichi soothed, his voice sounding as if it was fraying at the edges, coming unravelled just as he was.

And just that sound deprived him of any hope of taking anything 'easy'. The penetration was excruciatingly painful but the feeling that Shinichi was inflicting on him made a huge difference. Just the thought that he had had such an effect on this darkly devastating man had him moving sharply, catching the other's gasp of reaction in his mouth as Kaito took Shinichi with him.

"Kaito..."

His name was the last thing he managed as Kaito took control from him, using the sensual power of his body, the mind-blowing impact of his kisses to take the latter hard and fast, driving him unnervingly towards oblivion with almost terrifying concentration.

Their bodies clashed and shuddered, gasping breaths tangling together, heartbeats racing, thundering, pounding as one. Together they came to an edge and together they stayed there for one agonizing moment before a single final thrust took them over, spinning them out into the whirling haze of ecstasy that seemed to turn Kaito's soul inside out and back again and again until he finally came back down to earth, splashing their stomachs with his release, together with a stunned and shaken sigh.

Exhausted, replete, he just wanted to lie there, to feel Shinichi's arms around him again. Perhaps his kiss against his face. So the change when it came was so sudden, so shocking, so unbelievable, that it stunned him rigid, keeping him lying there with his eyes closed as Shinichi moved away from him. Not just to the side of the bed, not to hold him or cuddle close in any way, but up and away from him, the sound of the thud of his feet on the floor telling their own story. The cold shiver of air over his skin chilled his heated flesh, stopped his racing pulse and left him feeling lost and bereft, totally alone.

And then Shinichi's stillness was so complete, so lengthy, that after a few moments his silence got through him where he hid behind the security of his closed eyelids.

"Shinichi?"

It was a whisper that got as far as his lips but then he didn't dare to let it go. He was afraid to let him hear in his voice how shaken he was at what the other was doing-or, rather, not doing. He didn't want him to see how shock and distress, or realize how horrified he was.

But when Shinichi moved at last, the faint rustle of material telling him he had snatched up some clothing, he couldn't hold ack any longer.

"What is it?" he continue to ask.

His eyes flew open, staring straight into Shinichi's cold, gleaming stare, and what he saw there chilled him right through the bone. He had not only picked up his clothes, but also shrugged on his shirt, pulling it close at the front and buttoning it up with fingers that were shockingly steady and disturbingly fast. It was as if he couldn't wait to cover up, to be away from him.

"Shinichi- what...?"

For the space of a couple of shocked, unsteady heartbeats, he held Kaito's stunned gaze without moving, without any hint of emotion, And then his gaze dropped, surveying his exposed, naked body with such total disdain that Kaito could almost feel the burn of his gaze searing off a much needed protective layer, leaving him raw and vulnerable.

"I think that will do," Shinichi said at last, his tone as icy as his blue eyes.

"Do?"

Kaito couldn't believe what he was hearing, what was happening. How had the ardent, urgent lover of just moments before been suddenly transformed into this cold-eyed, hard-faced, hard-voiced stranger?

"Do in what way?"

"In every way."

To his horror he flashed an on-off smile, barely there then gone again, into his appalled face, no trace of light reaching his eyes so that it was only a movement of his lips with no effect anywhere else. He finished fastening his shirt, reached for his trousers and pulled them on before smoothing his palms over the shining black hair that his clutching fingers had disordered, restoring it to order. He might as well have put on a suit of armor, closing it up around his chest and throat, carefully keeping Kaito at bay, so deliberately were his actions, distancing himself from the other and practically putting up a warning sign that declared loudly, 'Go away, keep out! Trespassers will be prosecuted." Even his stunning eyes were hidden under his bangs so that Kaito could barely see them.

"I think I've made my point. In one way at least, there is someone out there for each of us. I've never knoewn anything like that. Never."

"And is that meant to be a compliment?"

The terrible, tearing agony of realizing that it had all been just some perverted sort of test, a way of proving that he couldn't resist him- and, damn it, he hadn't been able to, had he?- made his voice shrill with self disgust.

"Am I supposed to be grateful?"

"Not grateful, no. But you might consider it a relief because it shows that in this way at least, our marriage is not going to be the ordeal you seemed to think. In fact, you might actually enjoy it."

"Why, you-"

Kaito would've lost his grip on his control, would've launched himself at him in a fury, but at that moment a loud buzzing sound had Shinichi pulling his mobile phone from the pocket of his trousers.

"Yes... One moment..."

Shockingly matter-of-fact, he turned back to Kaito.

"Sorry... I have to take this call. Wait here-I will be back in a moment and we will talk about this further."

They wouldn't talk about it at all, Kaito told himself. And if he thought that he was going to stay here quietly and wait for him after that horrific humiliation, then hell would freeze over before he would do any such thing. But, deciding that discretion was very definitely the better part of valor and he would do best not to arouse his suspicions, he forced himself to nod briefly, avoiding the searching gaze of the detective-turned businessman's eyes as he did so.

He even managed to lie still, exactly where he was, as Shinichi walked away, his heart thudding, breath catching as he prayed hat he would just keep moving and that he wouldn't look around, that nothing in his edgy position, the way he was poised in readiness for flight, would communicate itself to him.

As soon as Shinichi disappeared through a door at the far end of the room he jumped off the bed, Hurriedly wearing his dress shirt and adjusting it, tugging his trousers back into place as he went. Looking in the mirror was the last thing that he wanted to do but practically forced him to do just that. He could hardly walk out of here looking as if...

Oh, hell-looking as if he had just been indulging in the most wanton, erotically painful sex of his life.

He might have been doing just that, but his tangled hair, swollen lips and flushed face were too much of a giveaway for appearing in public. He was forced to waste a few precious moments on essential repairs, all the time scarcely daring to breath for fear that the door would reopen and Shinchi would come back into the room.

But at last he was on his way, running silently down the stairs, trying to work out just how he was going to get a car to take him back to his hotel.

In the end it was stunningly easy. He wasn't Kaito Kuroba for nothing. He braced it out, speaking to the first member of staff he saw.

"Shinichi bocchama wants the car brought round to the front door,"

Obviously the power of Shinichi's name was absolute because the woman simply nodded and disappeared in a rush. There was a brief, anxious wait, a panic that perhaps he might finish that phone call and catch him. But then suddenly the sleek black limousine was there by the steps, the uniformed chauffeur getting out to open the passenger door for him, and he scrambled hastily and rather inelegantly inside, huddling down on the seat in case Shinichi would reappear and look around for him.

It was only as the car pulled away and headed down the drive that he allowed himself to draw in a long, shaken breath in a hope of slowing the whirling spin of his mind and look around. He couldn't quite relax until they reached the main road and turned in the direction of Kudo Mansion, and that was when he realized that he still had nothing on his feet.

The elegant and ruinously expensive shoes that had crippled his feet so painfully were still lying under the wooden bench near to the swimming pool where he had kicked them off when Shinichi had carried his inside and he had no intension at all of going back for them, no matter how much they had cost. Apart from the fact that the leather was so constricting, they now had memories attached tot hem that he didn't want to have to recall.

So he was sitting in the car like some sort of Cinderella on her way home from the ball, having left his shoes back there. But they weren't glass slippers, and it wasn't Prince Charming he had left behind. Instead od his coach to turn into pumpkin it was Shinichi himself who had changed into the Big Bad Wolf.

All the magic he had felt earlier in the evening had evaporated, leaving a painful ass, a bitter taste in his mouth as the tiny dreams he had allowed himself to feel just for a moment shriveled into ashes. And he could only pray that the wolf prince wouldn't come after him as he had hunted down Cinderella in the original fairy tale.

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><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong>

****Hi people... I wish you enjoyed reading it. I'm sorry for the twist hahaha ..

****Please keep on sending your reviews ... I love `em!

**REVIEW REPLIES:**

**tenten32158**: Regarding the sex between guys. I'm also not a guy or gay specifically and I've got lots of gay friends who are willing to divulge their smex life so I'm pretty aware of how the real thing goes. I'm saving that for a later chapter- I don't wanna go into full detail yet since they're not really emotionally attached to each other. I guess this chapter explained it. As for the he- instances ... i'm trying my best to minimize it:) I've also changed the rating ..

**LyndsiMcKay**: You don't need wait much longer ... I guess this chap explains the reason why I said that they're not yet emotionally attached hahaha ... anyways there will be another lemon ... I guess...

**Black Phantom 1412: **Yeah .. I loved reading your fics ... hahaha ... Updating now ... I hope enjoyed reading :)

**mochiusagi**: Hahaha .. Yes KaiShin is perfect for each other .. *evil laugh* I might write another as I finish this ...

**DayDreaming0f y0u: **There's your lemon hahaha ... I hope I didn't break your heart on this part ..

**Nytie nyt peepz ... Off to work ! :)**

~alex


	18. Chapter 18

Hi peeps !

Belated Merry Christmas and Advance Happy New Year !

Sorry I wasn't able to update for a couple of days ...

I hope you're still interested in the story :)

Guys this'll be a very short one, I'm giving you guys a heads up...

Please read and review ...

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R EIGHTEEN<strong>

_'I've discovered as I've grown up that life is far more complicated than you think it is when you're a kid._

_It isn't just a straightforward fairytale...'_  
><em>~Rachel McAdams<em>

Cinderella was well and truly back from the ball.

Kaito's smile was wry as he unlocked his front door and let himself into his rented cottage after a long day at work. The contrast between the luxury and style of Shinichi's beautiful house in Beika and this tiny home, with its slightly shabby decor and worn appearance, couldn't have been much greater. But at least this was a home and not a showplace as the Kudo manor had been. A showplace with no heart, and no real warmth of any sort.

Much like its owner.

He certainly wouldn't trade one for the other any day. Not even when his own little cottage felt as chilled and unwelcoming as it did now. The central heating timer must be on the blink again.

The weather too was as different as it could be from the mild temperatures he had left behind in Tokyo. Here in Osaka, the wind was biting, bitter chill, and the forecast was for it to get even colder over the weekend. There were even suggestions of a storm. Certainly the sky had looked heavy enough as he had driven back up the steep winding road that lead from the library to his home. He just prayed that the heating would work once he checked on it and switched it on manually.

The house was just beginning to lose the chilly edge from the temperature and he had started to prepare an evening meal when there was an unexpected ring at the dorrbell.

Who could that be? He wasn't expecting anyone and the cottage was far enough from the village to deter casual callers, with no one living near enough to be described as a neighbor. Wiping his flour-covered fingers on a handy tea towel, he hurried down the corridor to answer the summons.

With no glass pane in the door to give him any clue, no way of seeing of seeing just what sort of figure might be at the door, he had no warning. And so the sight that met his eyes when he pulled it open had him losing all his breath in one shocked gasp and taking a couple of stunned, shaky step backwards.

Shinichi Kudo stood there, large as life. Or perhaps even larger than life, because that was how he seemed with his frame filling the small doorway, his shoulders almost blocking out the view of the slightly unkempt garden, his black hair blown wildly over his forehead by the whirling winds that howled amongst the trees. His eyes were almost as cold and bleak as the darkening sky and it seemed that the weather prediction of hailstorms had been an accurate one, with white pellets spinning in the air, and some of them had settled on his head, glistening among the black strands like melting diamonds.

"Shinichi!"

"Good afternoon to you too, Kai-chan..."

If the faint flicker of something across his lips was supposed to have been an attempt at a smile then it failed completely, switching on and then off again with a speed that made him wonder if it had ever been there. His dour frown and hooded eyes seemed much more his natural expression, destroying the memory of the devastating smile he had experienced so very briefly only the week before.

But nothing could wipe away the sheer impact of the young man.

Even now, hudded into a navy-blue coat, shoulders hunched against the icy winds, he was still the most shockingly handsome man he had ever seen. And his naturally golden skin seemed even more exotic when contrasted with the dull tones of the wintry landscape surrounding him.

"What are you doing here?"

He knew he sounded ungracious but shock had pushed the words from his mouth. Shinichi was the last person he had expected or wanted turning up on his doorstep. Or at least that was what his rational mind allowed him to admit to. The real truth was that some wickedly unwanted, instinctive inner response had made his heart clench in instant reaction in the moment he had recognized his stunning features.

"I came to return your property."

* * *

><p>Hi peeps .. have to cut it there :)<p>

I'm formulating my thoughts ..

hahaha

Have a happy new year.

I'll be updating soon, and I'm very sorry for the cliffhanger.

Next chappie will be LOOOOONG ..

THAT's A PROMISE.

~alex :)


	19. Chapter 19

Belated Happy Holidays people!

I was out for a long time and I deeply apologize for that.

I just got my laptop back. I'm really sorry for the loooooong wait.

Anyway here's the next chapter.

Please read and review! :)

Oh! Anyway I will include a recap of the last chapter so that you will get a grasp of it. I think it took me so long that you already forgot the last chap.

* * *

><p><em>Cinderella was well and truly back from the ball.<em>

_Kaito's smile was wry as he unlocked his front door and let himself into his rented cottage after a long day at work. The contrast between the luxury and style of Shinichi's beautiful house in Beika and this tiny home, with its slightly shabby decor and worn appearance, couldn't have been much greater. But at least this was a home and not a showplace as the Kudo manor had been. A showplace with no heart, and no real warmth of any sort._

_Much like its owner._

_He certainly wouldn't trade one for the other any day. Not even when his own little cottage felt as chilled and unwelcoming as it did now. The central heating timer must be on the blink again._

_The weather too was as different as it could be from the mild temperatures he had left behind in Tokyo. Here in Osaka, the wind was biting, bitter chill, and the forecast was for it to get even colder over the weekend. There were even suggestions of a storm. Certainly the sky had looked heavy enough as he had driven back up the steep winding road that lead from the library to his home. He just prayed that the heating would work once he checked on it and switched it on manually._

_The house was just beginning to lose the chilly edge from the temperature and he had started to prepare an evening meal when there was an unexpected ring at the dorrbell._

_Who could that be? He wasn't expecting anyone and the cottage was far enough from the village to deter casual callers, with no one living near enough to be described as a neighbor. Wiping his flour-covered fingers on a handy tea towel, he hurried down the corridor to answer the summons._

_With no glass pane in the door to give him any clue, no way of seeing of seeing just what sort of figure might be at the door, he had no warning. And so the sight that met his eyes when he pulled it open had him losing all his breath in one shocked gasp and taking a couple of stunned, shaky step backwards._

_Shinichi Kudo stood there, large as life. Or perhaps even larger than life, because that was how he seemed with his frame filling the small doorway, his shoulders almost blocking out the view of the slightly unkempt garden, his black hair blown wildly over his forehead by the whirling winds that howled amongst the trees. His eyes were almost as cold and bleak as the darkening sky and it seemed that the weather prediction of hailstorms had been an accurate one, with white pellets spinning in the air, and some of them had settled on his head, glistening among the black strands like melting diamonds._

_"Shinichi!"_

_"Good afternoon to you too, Kai-chan..."_

_If the faint flicker of something across his lips was supposed to have been an attempt at a smile then it failed completely, switching on and then off again with a speed that made him wonder if it had ever been there. His dour frown and hooded eyes seemed much more his natural expression, destroying the memory of the devastating smile he had experienced so very briefly only the week before._

_But nothing could wipe away the sheer impact of the young man._

_Even now, hudded into a navy-blue coat, shoulders hunched against the icy winds, he was still the most shockingly handsome man he had ever seen. And his naturally golden skin seemed even more exotic when contrasted with the dull tones of the wintry landscape surrounding him._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_He knew he sounded ungracious but shock had pushed the words from his mouth. Shinichi was the last person he had expected or wanted turning up on his doorstep. Or at least that was what his rational mind allowed him to admit to. The real truth was that some wickedly unwanted, instinctive inner response had made his heart clench in instant reaction in the moment he had recognized his stunning features._

_"I came to return your property."_

**C H A P T E R NINETEEN**

_'When the geniuses can't express their feelings, they just plot the equation: sqrt(cos(x))*cos(200 x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(9-x^2), -sqrt(9-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5...'_

_~Shinichi Kudo_

**oOo**

Shinichi lifted one hand to display a silvery plastic carrier bag that looked strangely out of place in his masculine grip.

"My...? What property?"

"Your shoes."

"You have to be joking! If you think that I would believe that anyone would travel all the way from Beika, fly across the channel and then drive here, just to return a pair of shoes, then..."

He broke off hastily, choking to a halt as Shinichi lifted the carrier bag even higher and opened it at the top, just enough for Kaito to be able to get a glimpse of its contents. The sight of the leather sent a hot tide of blood rushing through his cheeks. And the gleam of something darkly wicked deep in those unusual eyes only added to his embarrassment.

"You did that! There was no need!"

Shinichi shrugged off his protest.

"I wanted to return your property, but that was not the only reason I came here."

"Putting them in a parcel and posting them off would have been enough."

Belatedly, Kaito realized that he had talked across Shinichi, his voice covering the second part of his statement. But now the truth of what he actually said hit home.

"It wasn't? SO why else are you here?"

"Perhaps if you would let me in, then we could talk?

The suggestion was an obvious one. Or at least it would've been if his relationship with this guy was a normal one. Relationship? He didn't have a relationship of any sort with him. But politeness cost nothing and he couldn't keep him standing on the doorstep for ever in this weather. Much as he might want to.

But to invite him in suddenly seemed to have so much more significance than it deserved. Simply because he was Shinichi and because of the way they had parted after the reception.

"What do we need to talk about?"

"It would be easier if you let me in."

And if Kaito didn't let him in then he was saying nothing, that much was obvious. With a resigned sigh, Kaito opened the door.

"Come in then..."

He had been outmaneuvered and he knew it- and so did Shinichi. Kaito exected him to murmur 'Checkmate', or whatever English equivalent was, as he moved past him into the narrow hallway.

He regretted his action as soon as he had opened the door. He was the last person he wanted inside his home. And yet his heart gave a strong kick of excitement as soon as he moved past him into the confined space of the tiny hall. How was it possible to wish that he was anywhere but here in the same breath as he acknowledged the fact that now he was here, he couldn't take his eyes off him?

The cottage had low ceilings which made him look impossibly tall, ans the width of his shoulders was emphasized by the heavy jacket he wore. He brought in a rush of cold, damp air with him and as he turned to face Kaito, he saw that wide, devastating smile on his face.

"what?" he asked sharply, that smile setting his pulse pounding, his legs feeling like cotton wool underneath him as he fought against the temptation to lean back against the wall for support. "What's so funny?"

"Not funny, but…"

Shinichi leaned forward and brushed the pad of his thumb across Kaito's cheek, his touch warm and soft. And suddenly the latter's heart seemed to stop beating, his breath coiling tight in his throat.

"You have flour in your face. There…"

He held up his hand to show him the streaks of white but apart from one brief glance Kaito couldn't look at it and away from his face. His eyes were drawn to Shinichi's, his gaze held transfixed, and although that smile had faded there was still some lingering warmth that heated his skin more than the old-fashioned central heating clanking its way through the radiators.

Memories surfaced. Memories of a beautiful Moorish-style house, a pink bedroom, and the softness of the touch that had soon become so much more. Memories he didn't want to recall and that he had to crush down with an almost vicious effort as heat flooded his face.

"Thanks…" it was a growl of embarrassment.

Automatically he raised his own hand to wipe at the spot, but then, seeing the flour on his fingers, shook his head and dropped it down again.

"Come in." he made his tone unnecessarily brisk to hide the confusion that had him in its grip.

Shinichi's next move was perfectly natural, perfectly logical, but as Kaito moved to open the door into his sitting room, Shinichi pushed the front one closed, so that it slammed into the frame with a worrying ominous thud that made all the hair at the back of his neck lift in sudden apprehension.

Had he made a foolish move inviting him in like this? Never before had he been so aware of the fact that the cottage was isolated and with the weather closing in around them he was very much alone. The sooner he got this over with and sent Shinichi on his way, the better. He was not going to offer him a drink, he resolved as he led the way into the sitting room. That would make it look as if Kaito wanted him here.

"So what is this about?"

Kaito moved carefully to position the coffee table between himself and the person standing before him, making the sitting room look almost like something out of a doll's house with all the furniture out of proportion and far too small in contrast to his aura.

"And don't expect me to believe that it has anything to do with the shoes that you used as an excuse to worm your way into here."

"Not worm my way, Kaito." Shinichi had the nerve to make his words sound like a reproach as he shook his dark head in rejection of his accusation. "I simply said that we need to talk."

"But to talk about what—just why are you here?"

"Why? I would have thought that was obvious."

Why _was _he here? Shinichi had asked himself that question a hundred times on the journey from Tokyo. He knew what had sparked the decision to make the journey. It had been made in the black fury that had descended on his brain when he had got back to the bedroom after taking the phone call. A too long, impatient phone call in which he had to cut off one of his managers with harsh ruthlessness in order to hurry back to where Kaito was.

Or, rather, where he had thought Kaito was.

Instead, the room had been empty, the door wide open, and no sign of the person who had been in his arms, responding so passionately to his kisses, his caresses, such a short time before. The only evidence that he had ever been there was the disheveled quilt, the dent in the pillow where his head had lain.

He'd known then what had happened, though he hadn't quite been able to believe it. And the red mist that came up before his eyes threatened his ability to think straight enough to believe or to doubt. A hurried search, an even more hurried questioning of some members of the staff had only confirmed his furious suspicions and that was when all rational thought had fled his brain, driven out by the roar of pure fury that totally consumed him.

He had run out on him.

Ran's brother had turned tail and run just like his sister. The whole family had slashed at his pride and his reputation—and taken the money he had been foolish enough to let them have at the start. Someone would have to pay.

And that someone was going to be Kuroba Kaito.

He could of course have simply called in his mother's debts, and send the lying fool to prison for embezzlement, as he had originally planned, but that thought no longer satisfied him. The one thing that had been clear in his mind was that he was going to find Kuroba Kaito.

It had been a simple matter to track down where he was hiding. His drunkard of a stepfather had been only too keen to supply it, and his weak, greedy mother had gone along with it, seeing her own hope of escape by doing so. His family had handed him to Shinichi on a plate.

And as soon as he had opened the door for him this evening he had known exactly why. He had never been able to get Kaito out of his mind. Ever since he had disappeared, his image had been in his thoughts, stopping him from thinking clearly, preventing him from sleeping.

In fact, if he was being honest, he'd been in his head from the first moment they had met. Kogoro might have described him as useless and a pain in the ass, there had been something about him that caught on his senses and wouldn't let go. Even when he'd thought he was his exact opposite, he had been intrigued by Kaito. The person who had come to tell him about his sister's disappearance had been someone else again, the one he's held in his arms as they had dance another person entirely. Then there was this guy whose hair he caressed, whose eyes had glistened in the moonlight as his body strained towards him, whose mouth had practically begged for his kisses until he had thought he would groan aloud with the strain of withholding them. But it was the person he had taken to his bed who had eclipsed them all.

That person haunted his nights, keeping him from sleep, or, if he did slide into a doze, had made his slumber restless and uneasy as heated erotic images walked through his dreams, murmuring his name, offering his mouth to him, his body opening to his caress.

And when he had woken, sweating and shaken, with his heart racing at twice its normal speed, he had found himself hard and aching, his body aroused by the night's imaginings and clamoring for the release it needed. A release that Kaito's flight had forced him to deny it.

But not anymore. The moment that he had opened the door, he had known exactly why he was here. The shoes were no real excuse; revenge might be part of it but sheer physical craving was more, so much more. Seeing Kaito as he had never seen before, with the soft azure-blue jumper and the tightly clinging jeans emphasizing the body shape, his hair unruly as ever, his beautiful skin untouched with even a small trace of make-up unlike during his wedding day, he had felt his heart kick hard in his chest. The fierce sting of hunger had started up lower down in his body, so strongly that it had been an effort to speak and not just to reach out and drag him into his arms, kissing him until they were both senseless with need and passion.

"I'm here to finish what we started." He declared, the twist of sexual hunger making his voice raw and rough.

"I've come for you…"

'COME FOR…'

Kaito couldn't believe what he had heard. Panic was buzzing inside his head, making thoughts reel, so he was sure that he hadn't actually caught what he had said. That he couldn't have said…

He just couldn't have said 'I've come for you.'

Could he?

But Shinichi stood there, with his scarred hand raised to unfasten the buttons of his coat. And with that gleam in his eyes, the taunting one that he had come, through painful experience, to recognize as meaning trouble for someone—and in this case that someone was definitely Kaito.

Even if he was just teasing then it was a cold-blooded, wicked teasing, one that made his nerves twist in apprehension and lifted the hairs on the back of his neck in a way that made him shiver inwardly.

"What do you mean, you've come for me? There's nothing for you here. Nothing about me that you would want or can have."

"Are you sure of that?" Shinichi shrugged himself out of his coat and tossed it aside so that it landed on one of the two-seater settees that furnished the room.

"Of course…"

That fiendish gleam had brightened disturbingly and the faint lift of one straight dark brow in cynical enquiry was more worrying than any more blatant threat.

"You're forgetting something," Shinichi drawled softly, the fascinating voice deepening on the silky words so that in spite of himself Kaito couldn't suppress the recognition of how attractive that voice was, how it tugged at his sexuality, sending prickles of awareness down his spine. He didn't want to find anything attractive about this person but he just couldn't deny the almost shocking appeal Shinichi had for him.

"Oh, really—and just what is it that I have forgotten?"

"That your family owes me a partner. The wedding that never was," Shinichi elaborated coolly when his head went back in shock, eyes widening in disbelief and he struggled to accept that Shinichi actually said what he thought he had heard. And, even worse, that he had meant it.

"My sister's wedding!" he protested. "She was the one who was supposed to marry you."

"Exactly."

It was crisp and cold as the hail that was whirling outside, blown wildly up against the window and forming a thick curtain so that it was almost impossible to see through to the garden beyond.

"But—how can my family owe you a wife— owe you anything? I know that Ran broke her promise to marry you but surely you aren't going to—"

"There was more to it than that. So much more."

"More in what way?"

"Oh, come on, Kaito…"

That familiar arrogant gesture with his hand dismissed the question as not even bothering with, never mind answering. And even if he had thought that the wild storm outside had looked cold then it was nothing compared to the ice in his eyes as they blazed at him across the room, chilling his blood so that he feared that he would never, ever be warm again.

"Let us not play games here. We both know what I mean."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It would be better if we were straight with each other."

"I don't know how to be anything but straight because I don't know what you mean!"

It was impossible to control the tremble in his voice, impossible to stop it rising in fear and uncertainty. He was still struggling so hard to come to terms with what he had said and to work out just how he might actually mean it.

_I've come for you.._

_Your family owes me a partner._

The two phrases cannot be connected— they just couldn't. And there really was no way that they could mean what she feared— that he had come for him because he believed that Kaito's family owed him a partner and he was the 'partner' he had in mind.

No, it was impossible. He couldn't believe it. And yet there had been that appalling proposition Shinichi had flung in his face on the evening of the wedding.

And did he mean feared had been— or something else entirely?

He had been unaware of the way that he was shaking his head in frantic denial until he had heard Shinichi's voice again, cold and incisive, cutting through the blur of confusion in his brain.

"No? Are you saying no, we should not be straight with each other or no, let not play games?"

"I'm saying no, this can't be happening. No, it doesn't make sense— none of it."

"Why not?"

There was no way he could escape the fierce, intensely focused burn of his watchful eyes. They were fixed on his face as he spoke, observing every tiny flicker of emotion across his features, every change of mood, every sign of uncertainty and confusion, like a great detective he once was. Watching his so closely and unwaveringly that he felt as if he were some small, defenseless harvest mouse, cowering in a corner of a field, vulnerable, exposed and praying desperately that the cruel, hunting eyes of a hovering bird of prey would somehow pass over him and let him escape.

But Shinichi was clearly in no mood to ease up on him. He had no intention of letting him get away.

"To me it makes perfect sense. What is wrong with what I am saying? Why can it not make sense?" Shinichi inquired with a softness that stunned him as it was so much in contrast to the burn of his gaze.

"Because there is no way you can claim that you want me as you partner or wife or whatever it is. We are both male!"

It must all be a pretense. Some sort of dark, twisted game. One that he was playing deliberately to make him squirm, to make him burn up in embarrassment.

"No way that you can say that you came here for that."

"And why not, hmm?" Shinichi shot back.

"Because— because I'm not Ran!"

"Do you think I don't know that? And do you not realize that that is exactly what makes this arrangement so much better in my eyes?"

Had Shinichi just paid him a huge compliment, or flung another insult in his face? Kaito couldn't decide and his brain felt too bruised and muddled to work it out.

"How can I want you as my partner in life? Why not? I told you this before and you reacted as if I had thrown a live snake into your face. As if I had given you the worst possible insult.

"You had."

* * *

><p>I'm still working on my thoughts for the next chapter.<p>

Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait.

Please feel free to review. :)

Thank You.

~alex


	20. Chapter 20

Hello peeps!

I'm planning to write another story but I ain't sure if it'd be a ShinRan or ShinKai.

Here's the plot but again, I ain't sure how to make it paradisiac.

Shinichi and Aoko find a great love in each other. Everything seems so perfect with this young couple, until a tragic event happens. Aoko died. Nakamori, Aoko's mother, decides to donate her daughter's heart to a patient, Kaito, a young lad who is suffering a fatal heart attack and will undergo heart transplant. Aoko's death causes Shinichi to suffer, as he can't let go all the memories of his beloved girlfriend. He also vows not to fall in love again. Until fate leads him to meet Kaito. Both Shinichi and Kaito were fascinated for what they have feel whenever each one of them is around; their hearts oddly beat faster and a warm feeling radiates between them every time their eyes meet. Will Shinichi ever get a chance to know that Kaito carries the heart of his departed girlfriend? Will he finally move on and open his heart for another person, another love?

What do you think people? Hahaha lemme know coz Kaito's character's supposedly Ran's.

Anyway, I am so sorry for the long wait.

I am too busy studying and working that I had barely enough time to update this.

Here is my promised chapter. Please read and leave your comments. Thank You so much...

* * *

><p><strong>C H A P T E R TWENTY<strong>

_"Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it."_

_~Nicholas Sparks_

_*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*_

_oOo_

Anger at the memory of that appaling moment brought a new strength in Kaito's voice, bringing his chin up defiantly, purple eyes blazing into Shinichi's cold blue ones.

"My proposal of marriage was an insult to you?" He actually sounded shocked, as if _he_ was the one who had insulted the latter. It wasn't so much a proposal as a demand that I could take Ran's place. One of Chikage's child is as good as another, you said."

And that was that really why he was here now? To suggest once again that he could replace his sister as his partner in life? His brain threatened to blow a fuse simply at the thought.

But would he have come all this way if he was only a replacement? Or was he totally weak and stupid to allow himself to dream that perhaps, after all, he had made some impact on him? That he hadn't been able to forget him as he had found it totally impossible to get the image of his stunning face, those pale eyes, and the beautiful voice out of his mind.

"I was angry when I said that. In that I was wrong."

Shinichi's response brought his head up sharply, shocked purple eyes looking into cool blue ones.

"Is that meant to be an apology?"

"It is the truth. I never wanted your sister as I want you. And if she had run to some strange little cottage in the wilds of Osaka, then I would have thought twice about following her."

"It's not a strange..." Kaito began but then the realization of just what he had said sank into his numbed brain. "Is that the truth too?"

"Why should I lie to you, Kai-chan? That is exactly the point."

Shinichi's gaze still held his as he spoke, his eyes so deep and clear that Kaito felt they were like a still, smooth pool in which he risked drowning, going in over his head completely.

"And precisely just what point is that?"f

The look Shinichi turned on him questioned the justification for his fury, seeming to wonder just why he was overreacting in this way, which of course only added fuel to the fire, making his breath hiss in between clenched teeth, his eyes sparking fury as they glared into his.

"I would have thought that was obvious."

"To me it isn't! So tell me exactly what _point_ you were trying to make."

Shinichi moved to fling himself down unto one of the small settees, pushed both hands through the dark sleekness of his hair as he lounged back against the multicolored cushions on the settee, infuriatingly at his ease.

"In Beika you said you there was no way you could marry me because we had never even kissed," Shinichi pointed out with exasperating calm. "I simply put that right. But I suspected– knew– that there would be more to it than that. And I was proved right."

Kaito feared that his head might actually burst open under the pressure of outrage and fury that was pounding through him. He could have very little doubt as to just what sort of 'more' to it there was in what Shinichi was implying.

"I told you that I never slept with Ran and you asked–"

"If you believed that if she'd once experienced your lovemaking, she'd never want to get away from you. That she would have become so addicted that she'd have to stay around for more," Kaito put in angrily when he hesitated, seeming not to be able to remember what he had said.

Too late he realized that he had fallen head first into the trap that he hadn't even noticed Shinichi was digging for him.

"I never thought that would be the case with Ran," Shinichi drawled, actually having the nerve to smile up at him as he spoke. "But I know how it would be with you. That if I touched you, you would go up in flames."

Kaito's only response was a furious hiss, like a hostile snake. He tried to find something coherent to say but every single line escaped him and there was no way any words would form.

"And I was right. Which means that I've made it so much easier for you."

"Easier!" the word exploded from Kaito's tongue, all the anger, the disbelief he was feeling rolled up into the three short syllables. "Easier, precisely how?"

Shinichi struggled against the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. He knew it would only incense Kaito further, his fury giving away just how much he had got to him, which was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Kaito off balance—on edge—just as he was feeling right now.

There was no way he was going to let Kai know just how he too had gone up in flames that night; the hell of frustration he'd been going through ever since. The hell he was still experiencing as his aroused body yelled a furious protest at being held back like this, at being deprived of the pleasure and satisfaction it had been anticipating all the way here. The pleasure and satisfaction that had been in his mind from the moment that Kaito opened the door. Or even before that. As he had driven up the narrow, rutted road that led from the village to this cottage, the image of Kaito that had haunted his dreams and driven him to distraction in the day had been there in his mind, taunting him, tempting him, arousing him.

And once he had seen him in the flesh again, looking so appealing in the casual sweater and denim jeans, his hair straight from the bed, he had known he could never leave again without knowing that body intimately once more. The problem was that he suspected that 'once more' would never, ever be enough and the way that his arousal nagged at him reinforced that idea in a painful way.

"You know how the sex was between us—how it will be again. And so you can see that our marriage will be good for both of us—"

"It will not be good for me—for either of us—because we are _not getting married_! I will not just replace Ran as your bride. And for God's sake—how can you not realize that were both male!"

"No," Shinichi agreed with feeling, knowing that he had shocked Kaito by doing so, leaving him gaping faintly in surprise.

Feeling he might be more comfortable standing up, he got to his feet, that temptation to smile surfacing again as he saw the way his eyes sparked and he edged away like a nervous horse. If only he realized how much he was giving away by his unthinking action.

"You will not just replace Ran in any was because I never felt this way about her. My relationship with her never had this heat, this intensity."

Oh, how he wished that Shinichi would stop saying things like that, Kaito told himself. He didn't want to hear them, didn't want to believe them.

And yet they were the things he most wanted to hear in the whole world.

The thought that a man—_this_ man—this devastatingly handsome, stunning man—might actually prefer him to his sister, that he might have an effect on him that all Ran's brunet beauty had never managed, made his head spin and his nerves fizz with excitement.

"We'd be good together, Kaito."

Hastily he dragged his weak thoughts back from the enticing path they were tempted to follow. A path that might lead to some immediate pleasure, a sort of satisfaction, but one that would only leave him so much more lost and bereft when it was over. He had always vowed that he would never lurch into some half-formed or just plain bad idea of a liaison simply because of the attraction he felt.

But oh, if there was ever a person who could tempt him to go back on that resolve then that person was Shinichi Kudou.

As he stood before Kaito, raven hair mussed, blue eyes gleaming, his half-fastened shirt revealing part of the toned chest he had once caressed and kissed, the person was temptation personified. He was the handsome, irresistible, seductive snake in the Garden of Eden. And he made no secret of how much he wanted Kaito.

Dear heaven, but he was tempted. Just for once he wanted to let go of all common sense, throw off all the restraints he had imposed on himself and enjoy the fizzing, burning, wild, crazy excitement a hot-blooded, purely sexual affair could bring.

But even as he thought them, the words wild and crazy hit home, forcing him to reconsider. Wild and crazy was not part of his makeup and never would be.

"Good together in bed maybe—but that's no reason to get married!"

"Is it not? To me it seems like one of the best reasons there is."

"But we don't even like each other—except in that way."

"Does that matter?"

Shinichi shrugged off his protest with a lazy lift of his shoulders.

"I know many married couples who openly detest each other and they stay together because of their lifestyle and the fact that one partner is providing what the other one enjoys. At least we would have the passion as well."

"And that would be enough for you?"

"It would be a _damn_ good place to start."

_To start._

No, he wasn't going to allow himself to read anything into that. Hadn't he stated openly and bluntly that he didn't believe in love; that he never had and never would?

"Why don't you believe in love?" he asked suddenly, unable to fight the burning curiosity that overcame him, though he was almost stunned as he looked to hear him actually voiced the question out loud.

But whatever surprised Shinichi had felt very soon recovered from, the look of shock fading rapidly from his pale eyes to be replaced by a cold cynical scorn.

"I have seen no evidence that it exists."

"Oh, come on!" there was no way Kaito could let him get away with that. No one could ever get to the age of twenty-one without ever seeing love in some shape or form. "You must have!"

"Must I?"

The inquiry was so calm, so matter-of-fact, almost throwing away, that it sent a shivery sensation over Kaito's skin, warning him that he was dealing with something here that he had never encountered in his life before.

"Well, surely your parents….?"

Shinichi's response was a snarl of such bitter, humorless laughter that it made his blood run cold just to hear it.

"Definitely not my parents. There too was a couple who did not need to love each other in order to create another life."

"Your mother must've loved you," Kaito hazarded, his heart suddenly seeming to beat high up in a throat that was tight with tension, making it almost impossible to force the question past the constriction.

The icily burning look that Shinichi turned on him from those amazing eyes threatened to shrivel him to dust right where he stood and it took all his mental courage to stay where he was and not turn tail and run.

"Even if my mother stayed around long enough to get to know me, I doubt if she would ever have felt anything like the way that love is described in fiction stories and fairy tales. To be strictly honest, I would find it hard to believe that she would have felt anything at all."

"But she was your mother!"

"She gave birth to me, that's all."

If there was any feeling behind the cold, set mask that was Shinichi's face, he was not letting it show. His features might have been carved from marble for all the emotion they revealed, and the glittering eyes had turned as cloudy and opaque as the blank eyeballs of ancient statues.

"And—your father?"

Kaito didn't really want to ask the question; he had had the nasty feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer one little bit. No one became as cynical as Shinichi obviously was without good reason, and he was beginning to see that he had more reasons than Kaito had ever suspected.

"My father?"

The sound of Shinichi's laughter made him shrink away inside as it was so cold and brutal, and he almost expected to see the words splinter into shards right there on the carpet in front of him.

"I doubt if my mother even knew who my father was. He could have been any one of a dozen possible candidates. Whoever he was, he certainly didn't want to take care of a young boy, either."

There was no self-pity in his voice, nothing in it that seemed to ask for any sympathy. Instead, he maintained that appalling matter-of-fact tone that made Kaito wince at every word. The stiffness of his long back, the careful blanking off of all expression in his eyes made him want to reach out and touch him, take his hands in his in an expression of compassion. But as the thought crossed his mind the immediate recognition of just what his response would be chased it away again.

He would hate it if Kaito showed any concern for him, and would probably repulse his gesture with a brusque one, though he was so armored against any sympathy that perhaps it wouldn't touch him at all. But it was the fear of what any touch might do to him that held him back most strongly. After the incendiary effects of Shinichi's caresses and kisses once before, he wasn't prepared to risk that all over again. He felt as if he had barely escaped unscathed as it was and the danger of putting his hand into the fire all over again was more than he could bear.

Which reminded him only too sharply of just why Shinichi was here in the first place. The cold-blooded declaration he had made on his arrival.

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><p>Sorry ... I got lost for words.<p>

I'm already writing another chapter. Please take time to leave a review as I am getting lost on this :((

I thought I already created at least 4000 words and in that I am at wrong :(

Thank You for adding my story to your favorites and alerts :)

But I would greatly appreciate if you would send your reviews people.

Anyway, this chapter is just a brief overview of Shinichi's history coz I think I focused a lot on Kaichan :)

Please don't forget to hit Review this Chapter button :)

**hi people! I'm sorry for the confusion.. It just came to me in a swift motion hahaha .. :) Sorry ... Sorry ...**

**I really am... I removed that CONFUSING part so I guess y'all can reread it to avoid confusion. I'm sorry .. I missed the canon characters so much .. and I'll try to avoid the pronoun issues on the later chaps .. Thank You so much for the reviews.. I never thought it would be that confusing. Ain't gonna do that again .. **

~alex


	21. Chapter 21

OMG !

I'm sorry for the confusion people.

I deleted that part where you got confused.

In case you didn't notice, i'll be posting it in italics at the start of the chapter, just so you won't be confused. :)

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><p><em>"Why don't you believe in love?" he asked suddenly, unable to fight the burning curiosity that overcame him, though he was almost stunned as he looked to hear him actually voiced the question out loud.<em>

_But whatever surprised Shinichi had felt very soon recovered from, the look of shock fading rapidly from his pale eyes to be replaced by a cold cynical scorn._

_"I have seen no evidence that it exists."_

_"Oh, come on!" there was no way Kaito could let him get away with that. No one could ever get to the age of twenty-one without ever seeing love in some shape or form. "You must have!"_

_"Must I?"_

_The inquiry was so calm, so matter-of-fact, almost throwing away, that it sent a shivery sensation over Kaito's skin, warning him that he was dealing with something here that he had never encountered in his life before._

_"Well, surely your parents….?"_

_Shinichi's response was a snarl of such bitter, humorless laughter that it made his blood run cold just to hear it._

_"Definitely not my parents. There too was a couple who did not need to love each other in order to create another life."_

_"Your mother must've loved you," Kaito hazarded, his heart suddenly seeming to beat high up in a throat that was tight with tension, making it almost impossible to force the question past the constriction._

_The icily burning look that Shinichi turned on him from those amazing eyes threatened to shrivel him to dust right where he stood and it took all his mental courage to stay where he was and not turn tail and run._

_"Even if my mother stayed around long enough to get to know me, I doubt if she would ever have felt anything like the way that love is described in fiction stories and fairy tales. To be strictly honest, I would find it hard to believe that she would have felt anything at all."_

_"But she was your mother!"_

_"She gave birth to me, that's all."_

_If there was any feeling behind the cold, set mask that was Shinichi's face, he was not letting it show. His features might have been carved from marble for all the emotion they revealed, and the glittering eyes had turned as cloudy and opaque as the blank eyeballs of ancient statues._

_"And—your father?"_

_Kaito didn't really want to ask the question; he had had the nasty feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer one little bit. No one became as cynical as Shinichi obviously was without good reason, and he was beginning to see that he had more reasons than Kaito had ever suspected._

_"My father?"_

_The sound of Shinichi's laughter made him shrink away inside as it was so cold and brutal, and he almost expected to see the words splinter into shards right there on the carpet in front of him._

_"I doubt if my mother even knew who my father was. He could have been any one of a dozen possible candidates. Whoever he was, he certainly didn't want to take care of a young boy, either."_

_There was no self-pity in his voice, nothing in it that seemed to ask for any sympathy. Instead, he maintained that appalling matter-of-fact tone that made Kaito wince at every word. The stiffness of his long back, the careful blanking off of all expression in his eyes made him want to reach out and touch him, take his hands in his in an expression of compassion. But as the thought crossed his mind the immediate recognition of just what his response would be chased it away again._

_He would hate it if Kaito showed any concern for him, and would probably repulse his gesture with a brusque one, though he was so armored against any sympathy that perhaps it wouldn't touch him at all. But it was the fear of what any touch might do to him that held him back most strongly. After the incendiary effects of Shinichi's caresses and kisses once before, he wasn't prepared to risk that all over again. He felt as if he had barely escaped unscathed as it was and the danger of putting his hand into the fire all over again was more than he could bear._

_Which reminded him only too sharply of just why Shinichi was here in the first place. The cold-blooded declaration he had made on his arrival._

**C H A P T E R TWENTYONE**

_"I dropped a TEAR in the OCEAN, and if you find that, I'll stop loving you.."_

_~alex :)_

_*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*_

_oOo_

_'I've come for you…"_

Kaito could well believe that he was callous enough to do just that. The man who had declared so openly that he didn't believe in love and who had only wanted a dynastic marriage to a member of Chikage's family—any child of Chikage, it seemed.

"It doesn't matter how good our one night was, it was one night, and it's over, I have no intention of repeating it ever again.

The look in his eyes, the faint lift of an eyebrow questioned Kaito's statement but he ignored it and plunged on.

"I will not marry you. I don't want anything to do with you."

"Liar," Shinichi said softly. "Look at what happened when I kissed you."

"What happened then was lust—it had nothing to do with love."

"And you need love before you marry?"

"Yes! Yes, I do!"

"Well, forgive me Kaito, but I can't give you that. But I can offer you a great deal—"

"And I don't want it! I don't want anything from you. What?" he asked as he saw his proud head go back as if in shock, dark brows drawing together sharply in a dark frown. "What have I said?"

"If that is the truth, then I suggest that you talk to your mother about this."

"My mother—why?"

He was thoroughly confused now. There was no reason at all why he should bring Kaito's mother into this.

"If you really don't know then she will tell you. It will come better from her."

"I have no intention of talking to my mother; nothing she can say will make me marry you."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Positive."

Shinichi seemed to need a couple of seconds to absorb what the other had said, and for once his pale eyes were not clear and cold but clouded with something he didn't understand.

"Do you know why I was going to marry Ran?"

"Of course—you wanted marriage to found your Kudou heirs."

That realization hit home like a blow to Kaito's chest, twisting something sharp and deadly in his heart. The image of a child that had Shinichi as its father, a boy with his dark strength or a girl with a softer, feminine version of that hair and stunning eyes, floated in his head. Children who would not have learned his cold cynicism and come to deny the idea of love. And children through whom their father might come to see that there was some emotion that he had never known, never understood in the rest of his life.

"And you still do—but you can't force me to marry you!"

I promise you that I don't intend to use force. But you will marry me."

"No way! Never!"

That smile that flickered across his lips made Kaito's blood run cold, and, even worse, it forced him to look at what he had said, hear it again in his thoughts, and catch the shrillness, the edge of panic in his voice that gave away so much more than was comfortable."

"Is there not a saying about never say never?" Shinichi drawled easily, flashing him that smile once more, but this time, there was no charm in it. This time his eyes were pure ice and the curve of his lips was a promise of retribution if Kaito didn't do things his way.

"There might be, but I think you'll find that it doesn't apply to me."

"Talk to your mother, Kaito."

It was a low, almost soft but there was a somber severity about his tone that pulled Kaito up sharp, making him look deep into Shinichi's face, trying to read something of what was going through his mind in those phantomable pale eyes. But Shinichi was giving nothing away. Instead, it was as if a heavy metal shatter had clanged to behind his eyes, cutting off everything from him and concealing his thoughts from him totally.

"Just what is going on here?"

But Shinichi simply shook his head, his lips shut tight over any possible explanation.

"All right…"

Backed into a corner, Kaito knew there was no other way he could react, but he wasn't going to let him enjoy his triumph.

"All right, I'll talk to my mother but not now—not with you standing over me like some avenging angel. If I have to do this then I'll do it in privacy—with you out of the house. Go on…" he pushed when Shinichi didn't respond, didn't move. "I want you to leave—get out of my house…"

Just what he would do if he refused to budge, he had no idea. A scary, impossible image of him trying to actually, physically move him, pushing him towards the door, flared in his head, making him shudder inwardly at the mere thought. But then, just as he was afraid he might actually have to try it, he lifted his shoulders in a dismissive shrug.

"OK," he said casually. "I'll leave—for now. I need to check in to my hotel and there are couple of business calls I need to make. But I'll be back."

The implied threat in the last three words, and the way Shinichi emphasized them, blue, gleaming gaze fixed on his face as if searching for something that only he could see, made his nerves jump.

"You'll leave and you'll not come back, not until I say you can. When I've talked to my mother, if I think we still need to talk, I'll give you a call.

Did he really think he was having any effect at all on him?

He might have agreed to leave, but it was because it suited him, for now.

His face was closed off again so that he had no idea if he was getting though him at all. The truth was that he doubted very much that he was. Shinichi would do things his own way and only that way. He was only going along with what he said because he was doing what he actually wanted Kaito to do. The feeling of being manipulated, outmaneuvered by a master was a nasty, creeping one along his skin. Just what would his mother tell him when he got in touch with her?

Shinichi was shrugging himself back into his coat, pushing his hand into one of the pockets and pulling out a small silver case. Flipping it open, he pulled out a slip of white embossed card and held it out to him.

"My mobile number," he explained when Kaito could only stare blank in confusion. "You'll need it when you ring me."

_When,_ Kaito noted. Not if. He was totally sure of himself, and of Kaito, totally in control. He had never felt more like a stiff wooden puppet, dancing in the command of the man who pulled the strings.

In the moment of petty rebellion he refused to take the card he offered,, his chin coming up defiantly as his eyes locked with Shinichi until he gave a small back of harsh laughter and tossed it down unto the arm of the settee.

"You'll need it," he said impeccably. "Call me."

He was turning away as he spoke, fastening his coat and turning his collar up high against the weather outside. Weather that was getting worse by the second if the wail of the wind howling round the cottage was anything to go by. It seemed amazing to Kaito that he didn't notice the way it sounded before, but then he had been – distracted was all he would admit to himself.

He hated over insisting that Shinichi should leave when he saw just what conditions were like outside as he opened the door. Not only had the wind increased in both speed and power, buffeting the trees so that they swayed wildly and dangerous in its force, but the rain was lashing down too and some of it was in the form of icy hailstones, battering the few straggly plants in his garden.

"Are you sure you'll be OK?"

"What's this Kaito?" Shinichi mocked. "Concern? I'm a big boy…"

"I know you are," Kaito snapped, unsettled by both concern for his safety and that he felt it, his stomach clenching unexpectedly at the thought of him having to drive in this appalling conditions. "Big enough and sturdy enough. But I wouldn't put a dog out in this."

"I'll survive."

Shinichi shrugged off his concern in a way that, strangely, only made him feel so much worse. From wanting him gone, needing the peace of his home to himself, free from his unsettling presence so that he could call his mother and find out just what was going on, he had veered towards a feeling that he should not let him go. What if something happened to him? The night was closing in and the road towards the village was very badly lit. its surface was very pitted and rough and, even if he knew its twists and turns well as Kaito did, he feared that driving it in these conditions would be an ordeal.

"Don't go." He said suddenly, spinning round to face Shinichi, only to realize that he had already left his side, that he was opening his car door, sliding into the driving seat.

For a moment he considered running after him. He even lifted his hand to wave, to beg him to stop, but the roar of the car's powerful engine had him dropping it down to his side again.

Shinichi wouldn't stay to please him, to calm his fears. Why would he want to? And wouldn't admitting to those worries give him more of a hold over Kaito, knowing that he cared? And so he forced himself to stand there and watch as Shinichi put the car into gear and set off down the road away from the cottage.

It was unnerving seeing the way that the vehicle was pounded by the fearsome winds, once even knocked to the side by the force of the gale, but Shinichi quickly regained control. A moment later he had reached a turn in the road, and even the rear lights of the car had disappeared from sight. As Kaito watched them go, another wild flurry of rain and hail lashed at his face, making him shiver in miserable response.

It was really a vile night, and somehow with Shinichi gone it seemed darker, colder, and bleaker than ever.

_Talk to your father, Kaito._ Shinichi's voice sounded in his head, reminding him of what he must do, and with another shiver, one he wasn't at all sure was completely physical, he turned and hurried back inside, letting the door swing behind him as he moved to pick up the phone.

DID KAITO KUROBA really not know what was going on, or was he playing some more complicated, carefully planned game along with the rest of his family?

The question nagged at Shinichi's thoughts as he drove away from the cottage, distracting him dangerously from the control of his car. He really needed all his concentration in the appalling weather conditions.

But in spite of the fact that he knew he should think of driving and nothing else it was impossible to stop his thoughts from drifting back over the time he had spent in the cottage and the image of Kaito as he had been then.

He wanted to recall the things he had said, how he had spoken them, and most importantly how he had looked as he'd reacted to Shinichi or answered his questions. He needed to be able to interpret his facial expressions, his body language, to try to understand just what was going on here, but the problem was that the memories he needed were not the ones he could recall most easily.

Instead, the images that flooded his mind were ones from that night in Beika, sensuous, erotic, doubly distracting. In his mind's eye he could see again the way that Kaito had looked when Shinichi kissed him. He could have sworn he could still taste the essence of him on his lips, and if he licked them to ease their sudden dryness it was as if he had only just lifted his mouth from the other, a memory that set his heart pounding and made the hunger of sensual need clutch at his loins.

Once again he lived through the moment of looking down at Kaito as he lay under him on the bed, seeing the unruly strands of his soft brown hair spread out on the pillows his head. His eyes had been the deep dark purple of an amethyst, his lips blushing pink in response to Shinichi's kisses. The soft scent of his skin had been all around him, blending with some delicate perfume that still lingered in his nostrils even though he was already so far away from him. And under the weight of his own body, his body had been a warm sensual delight, his chest just perfectly …

"Damn it, no!"

Savagely he curse aloud, dragging his thoughts back to the present and hellish road he was trying to negotiate in the pitch-darkness. Even the beam his headlights was blurred and distorted by the lashing rain and the savage hailstorm.

And the focus of his thoughts was no clearer. He wanted to be able to think without letting sensual hunger distract him from what mattered. But the truth was that where Kaito was concerned there was no hope of thinking of anything other than the aching sexual hunger he woke in Shinichi simply by existing. Even now he was hot and hard just thinking of Kaito, remembering the way he had responded to him, his soft moans when Shinichi had touched him, the way he had given himself up to his caresses.

But he had let that primitive need, that most basic of male appetites, blind him to anything else? Was he truly as innocent as he sometimes seemed, or just pretending to be unaware of the set-up that the supposed wedding had been? And if so, was he—?

"Hell!"

The raw, ragged creaking sound alerted him just in time.

At the very last minute he saw the way that a large tree on the edge of the road was waving more wildly in the wind than all the others. The ominous noise came again, louder this time, audile even above the wail of the wind, and with a terrible wrenching, splintering sound of the great trunk split apart and started to fall.

"Oh my god!"

Fingers clenched hard over the steering wheel until his knuckles showed white, he swung it sharply to the left, slamming his foot down on the brakes hard at the same time. He could only pray that he had reacted fast enough as a sound like roaring, deafening thunder crashed through the air.

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><p>Whew!<p>

Just done with this chapter.

I'm very sorry for the confusion on the latter part of the last chapter. I've had it fixed to avoid any further confusion.

Please feel free to leave your comments, feelings and suggestions regarding this chapter.

I really had a hard time writing up this part coz I tried to remove the cannon out of my brainie-chan hahaha...

Please click the Review this Chapter button below. Thank You!

~alex


	22. Chapter 22

Sorry for the long wait fellas!

Thank You so much for all the reviews [positive|negative|constructive criticism]. I loved it so much!

Thank you for adding me to your subscription|favorites|etcetera|etcetera .. but I would prefer review peeps! :)

Disclaimer: DC|MK|KAI|SHIN|IS|NOT|MINE[UNFORTUNATELY] - I guess that's pretty obvious since this is a fanfiction site :)

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><p><strong>C H A P T E R TWENTY-TWO<strong>

_"Knowing can be a curse on a person's life._

_ I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. _

_Which one took the most strength to carry around?_

_ It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies._

_ Heavier or not, the truth is yours now."_

_― Sue Monk Kidd, _The Secret Life of Bees__

**oOo**

Kaito pressed the off switch on the phone and set it back down in it's holder with a sigh.

This was the second time he'd got the answering machine's automated voice asking him to leave a message after the tone and there's no way that he could say what he needed to say to his mother in an impersonal recording.

The best thing he could do was to leave a request for her to ring him back as soon as she got in from wherever she'd gone.

And he's hope and pray that that would be soon. He had very little belief that Shinichi would stay way for long.

Or that he would wait for Kaito to phone him so that he should come back.

Shinichi Kudo was not the man who waited around for anyone's permission to do anything he wanted to do.

The thought had barely faded from his mind when the front door was pushed open suddenly, making him jump like a startled cat, and, as id conjured up by Kaito's reflections, Shinichi himself strode into the hallway in a flurry of wind and hail.

"What are you doing here?"

Irritation at his blatant disregard of Kaito's demand that he should not return until he asked him to warred with the unwanted but uncontrollable leap of his heart at the sight of Shinichi to create a volatile mood in which he didn't show what he should be feeling and why.

"Getting out of the wind and rain," was the laconic reply as Shinichi raked one hand through the black hair that had been blown over his forhead, pushing it back away from his face.

The howling gale had messed the normally sleek brown hair wildly and sparkled it with raindrops and the cold had made his skin glow, the cobalt eyes gleaming brilliantly.

He had never looked so vividly, so vibrantly alive and the sight of him sent a rush of blood through every vein, bringing with ita flurry of memories of how it felt to be in his arms, his kisses on Kaito's mouth, Shinichi's hands caressing his skin.

He could feel the hot blood flood his cheeks and prayed he would take it as being put there by anger at his reappearance.

"I told you not to come back unless I phoned you. I didn't call you."

"I'm well aware of that..." Shinichi began but, launched on this mood of indignation, Kaito found that he much preferred it to the wildly fluctuating feelings he had had as Shinichi walked through the door and so Kaito let it carry him onwards, speaking over his words without really listening.

"So what are you doing back here? Walking into the house as if you owned the place. I thought you had things to do- phone calls to make..."

"I do!" Shinichi declared in exasperation when Kaito finally drew enough breath to let him get a word in edge ways.

"And believe me I would have left if I could. Trailing back here in this gale was not exactly my first choice of how to do things."

"Then why-?"

"I had no choice, Kaito!" he flung at him coldly. "There was nothing else I could do!"

"Nothing else? Do you think I'll believe that? When you've come sneaking back here..."

"I did not sneak."

"...riding roughshod over what I said I wanted-probably with some other plan to get me into your bed. Do yu think I can't see through you? Oh, come on-"

But he never completed the sentence, breaking off in shock as Shinichi lurched forward to grab hold of his arm.

"No, you come on!"

Before he knew what was happening SHinichi had grabbed his coat from the hooks on the wall and wrapped it around him.

"You have your shoes on Good."

"Shinichi..."

He struggled to pull away but Shinichi held him close, huddling him against the protection of his chest with one arm as with his free hand he wrenched open the door and headed into the fury gale.

"Shinichi!" Kaito protested as the icy winds bruised his face, making him flinch back.

But a moment later the discomfort eased as he found that Shinichi had maneuvered his body so that it shielded Kaito from the worst of the elements, pulling part of his coat around him too as extra protection. He was snug and safe in a special cocoon, one in which the heat of Shinichi's body reached him even through his clothes, and the scent of his skin surrounded him, warm and musky against the bite of the freezing wind.

In the space of a couple of heartbeats Kaito had forgotten his discomfort, forgotten his annoyance, forgotten everything but the wonderful safe, secure feeling he had being held so close to the other, his arm around Kai's shoulders, his chest against Kai's arm, Shinichi's hip rubbing his as he strode furiously down the pitted road in the direction in which he had seen him drive just a short time before.

Another couple of moments more and that safe and secure feeling had given way to something new and very different.

In spite of the weather he was almost too warm in his cocoon, his body heated by the heavy pulse of his own blood as it thundered in response to the touch of SHinichi's hand, the movement of his body.

The memory of all that hard maleness crushing Kaito beneath him on the bed, the burning force of Shinichi's erection pressed into his stomach, made his mouth dry and blurred his eyes so that he had to be grateful for Shinichi's control, the surefooted way he guided Kaito along the gloomy path.

The impulse to stop, to turn in those arms, and drag Shin's handsome head down to his, to crush his lips to Shin's in a hungry, yearning kiss, was almost overwhelming and he actually welcomed the lash of the rain in his face as it forced him to keep a hold on reality.

"There."

Shinichi came to an abrupt halt, jolting Kaito out of his heated dream, sending his sexual thoughts flying as the other flung out a hand in an emphatic gesture to draw his attention to the scene before him.

"See..."

"What am I looking at-what-? Oh!"

His question choked off on a cry of shock and distress as he saw what was before him; what he wanted Kaito to see.

The car in which Shinichi had driven off now stood at a crazy angle, half on the road and half on the grass verge at the edge of it, where it was obviously swerved violently to avoid something.

And it was the something that brought the distress into his voice, making his eyes widen in stunned horror as they focused on the broken, splintered trunk of an enormous tree that had come crashing down in the storm and now lay right across the road, blocking the way completely.

Several of the smaller branches had broken off and were scattered around the place, and one large, heavy one that actually crashed into the side window of the car, splintering the glass where it had landed.

"That's why you-you couldn't leave-you crashed."

Kaito's voice quavered badly on the last word.

Somehow actually saying it made it all more real, all the more disturbing and it brought back the dreadful feeling he had had when he had seen Shinichi drive away, the fear that something might happen-something like this.

He found he was trembling all over and not from the cold. Not any more.

Just looking at the car he realized what a narrow escape Shinichi had had.

Another meter or two further forward and his car would've been directly in the line of the tree as it fell.

The weight of the huge trunk would have flattened the car-and it's driver.

The thought of Shinichi with his body crushed and broken sent fearful shudders running through him, his legs seeming to turn to water.

"Are you all right?"

In the shadowy night Kaito turned to Shinichi, trying to recall how he had looked when he had arrived back at the house.

Disheveled, windswept, wet-but uninjured.

He _had_ been unhurt, hadn't he? Kaito had been too taken aback, too irritated to look closely.

He wouldn't have noticed if there had been anything wrong.

"Shinichi-are you hurt Did the tree...?"

The horror of the possibilities overcame him again and hot tears stung at his eyes so that he had to blink furiously as he tried to focus on Shinichi's innocent looking face.

Acting purely on instinct, he lifted a hand, fingers shaking, and pressed it to his cheek, needing to feel his warmth, know that nothing terrible had happened to him.

"Tell me you're not hurt."

"I'm fine... Truly I am-I got out of the car just in time. Kai..."

Shinichi's hand, warm and comforting, came up to cover Kaito's where it lay against his cheek, pressing it softly so that he was trapped between the two different types of skin.

The hardness of his palm and the soft flesh of his face where the evening's growth of stubble was already starting to show and it pricked at Kai's own palm with a faint roughness that made his fingers want to curve tight against it.

He needed to touch Shinichi, needed to feel the warmth of him under Kaito's hands, skin against skin, life against life.

Just the thought that he might be injured-worse, that Kaito might have lost him before he had fully realized what Shinichi could mean to him was so terrible, so terrifying that he couldn't control his reaction to it.

"Kaito?" Shinichi's tone was soft, concerned but slightly rough at the edges as if he didn't quite know how to pitch it. But that wasn't possible, Shinichi always knew just what he was doing-never opened his mouth without thinking.

"Kaito, I'm fine-nothing happened. Nothing hit me."

Perhaps if he hadn't been gentle, if that hand that covered Kaito's hadn't curved closer, pressed a little harder, he might have held it together.

But his tenderness was just too much, breaking through the shattered barriers of his control, destroying them completely.

From somewhere deep inside tears welled up again, pressing at the back of his eyes but refusing to fall.

Instead, he had to let his feelings out some way and so he launched himself forward, capturing Shinichi's lips with his own and pressing hungry, emotional kisses unto his warm lips.

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><p>AN:

Hi there people. I think I went a little over the edge. Hahaha. There might be some lemon on the next chapter...yay!

I know it's a little short but things will eventually clear out. I promise :)

Suggestions please.. Would you like it to be KaiShin or ShinKai? Yeah I know I've established the pairing on this but it wouldn't hurt for some unexpected twist right? Go ahead tell me your comments, reviews and suggestions on the pairing. I'd love to respond to that.

~alex


	23. yaoi fangurl

**Warnings: Yaoi, ShinichixKaito I repeat ShinichixKaito! Twincest, incest, lemon! Rated for a good damn reason! One-shot.**

**hi peeps ! this is not a part of the story .. it's just one of my attempts in writing a yaoi chappie for this story but of course the setting and scene is diff. and this is just to remind you that this story is still alive .. I'm just having a hard time writing yaoi hahaha ideas please ...**

**can you like help me peeps?**

**tell me your comments ..**

**hahaha**

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><p><strong>YAOI FANGIRL<strong>

**oOo**

A certain long-haired girl was pacing her room and biting her nails with a devious smile plastered on her face. Her room was huge and she was walking quite quickly from her door to her bed where tons of pictures were forming a complete mess. On the pictures there were mainly two people , her friends – Kaito and Shinichi.

She just met a girl named Seira, who was a total pervert and she got her into something really crazy – yaoi. That damn thing was so hot and especially between identical twins. The idea of two teenage boys doing sinful things was making her blush deeply with excitement but the thought of twins were making her legs shake.

And surprisingly she knew two teenage boys, very good looking boys, who happened to be perfect replicas to each other. And not only that but the one of them, Kaito, had this adorable hair that made him perfect for her devilish plan.

Centuries now her family has known the recipe that was about to help her do her plan.

Kazuha was doing the shopping when she saw Ran approaching her and she waved at her.

"Hello Ran-san! Are you coming to see us?"

"Actually no, Kazuha-chan. I'm here to give you a special gift from the Mouri's to Kaito." Ran out-stretched her arm handing the dark-haired girl a small cloth-bag.

"What is that?" She took the bag and examined it curiously.

"It's a very special tea. Only the royal family and our family can have it but I think Kaito deserves to try it as well. Put some honey to it when you serve it to him okay?"

"Sure but why don't you give it to him by yourself?"

"I'm really in a hurry. I came in Japan to buy some stuff but if I take my time to go there and give it to him personally I will miss my flight, can I count on you?" Ran did her best to muster the cutest puppy-dog face so Kazuha had no choice and took the tea home.

* * *

><p>The late afternoon Kaito asked the teen girl to make him some tea and of course she told him everything about the history of how she got the tea. The magician was really surprised especially that he has never heard of this "royal" tea but he agreed to have it anyway.<p>

Soon Kazuha was ready with the tea and of course she made from that tea only to Kaito, to who the present was. And that's when the nightmare began.

Shinichi was sitting in his room calmly listening to his favorite music lying on his futon, staring at the ceiling. It was already dark outside and the room was lighted only by the shining moon. It was a warm spring evening and a light breeze was coming from the opened window.

Oblivious to any extra presence he was slightly tapping his fingers against his bare chest, it was that hot. His peace and quiet was interrupted though when someone sat on top of him and cool fingers ran up from his belly to his chest quickly and grasped his wrist.

His eyes shot open to see identical eyes, filled with lust and desire. He opened his mouth to say something but he was too slow. His twin forced him to sit up and captured his lips taking advantage of Shinichi's surprise to slip his delicious tongue in. One of his hands was still holding Shinichi's wrist and the other one was tangled in his hair at the back of his head.

The younger brother's eyes were wide with horror, staring at the other male's closed eyes not believing what was happening. He felt stoned. He couldn't move none of his limbs. Part of him was disgusted and tried to push Kaito away with the free hand but the other part was enjoying what his brother's tongue was doing in his mouth and craved to respond. The two powers were even until Kaito opened his eyes a little and it was as if it had a hypnotizing effect on Shinichi. Slowly he closed his eyes and kissed back forcefully. Kaito freed his hand and he moved both his arms behind Kaito's body and grasped it firmly to deepen the kiss.

Kaito moaned loudly which made Shinichi shiver. They had a small battle for dominance in Shinichi's mouth but he eventually won much to his surprise. Now he was the one exploring Kaito's sweet cavern. He's never imagined it could taste so good. Unconsciously he roamed his hands around Kaito's back, feeling the fine muscular body even underneath the fabric of his yukata. But air was a priority so they tore apart and gulped some oxygen hungrily.

"What the hell are you doing, Kaito?" Shinichi asked between breaths.

"Don't ask just do me!" Kaito commanded and Shinichi thought if it was really his brother or some alien who really looks like him. Finally he had a brief chance to observe his brother but even the single second he had, he certainly enjoyed the sight before him.

Kaito was wearing a thin yukata that was barely standing on one of his shoulders while the other was completely exposed to the moonlight making it the most beautiful sight. His hair was falling gently on his back and seemed more silken than ever. His skin was so soft and pale that Shinichi wanted to taste it so badly. Too bad he couldn't enjoy this perfection for too long. Kaito attacked Shinichi's neck with kisses and light bites. The younger teen tilted his head aside to give his brother more flesh to explore.

Not realizing it Shinichi moved his arms away from back and placed them on his ass, squeezing it lightly. Kaito gave his brother one final lick from his shoulder up to his ear and he couldn't take it anymore. Shinichi grabbed Kaito's shoulders and forced him a small distance. Before him was the same wonderful sight and he couldn't resist it any longer. They clashed their lips together and their tongues started a intense dance. The small battle for dominance was surprisingly won by Shinichi. Apparently Kaito wanted to be dominated or something because it was no doubt to anyone he was the stronger twin but in bed maybe he didn't want to be the powerful one.

Kaito's yukata was now barely standing on his forearms exposing more of his delicious flesh that Shinichi was exploring with his fingers with no shame but by unknown reason he suddenly stopped.

"What's going on, my brother?" The elder one asked rather annoyed.

"This is nuts Kaito! We are both men and brothers!" He tried to explain but Kaito wasn't willing to listen. He ignored his brother's complains and tore his shirt leaving Shinichi half naked.

A faint smirk formed on Kaito's face as he observed the soft skin exposed to his eyes. SO beautiful and welcoming. He didn't want for an invitation and just wrapped his bare legs around Shinichi's slender waist and tightened them _so much…_

"You have to stop this. You are outta your mind." Shinichi said between light pants. He was trying really hard to stay conscious but with Kaito rubbing against him so slowly… so sensually… so firmly was making him loose control. His body refused to obey him and betrayed him when it bucked up his hips for more contact with his brother's most private parts.

"P-please s-stop!" He managed to say out loud but his words remained unheard or simply ignored. Shinichi could feel how his pants were so tight that it was painful. He never even imagined that in this world such pleasure could exist and from such a simple thing.

Shinichi finally opened his eyes and immediately regretted. In front of him was even more erotic sight. Kaito was still that beautiful but even more welcoming. In other people's eyes he might have looked like a little slut but for Shinichi that was the sexiest thing ever. With one hand he was supporting himself up and with the other he was pulling Shinichi's hair at the back of his head. It hurt a bit but it was from that kind of pain that you are more than willing to feel. Kaito's chest was moving up and down from the rapid breathing. Beads of sweat was falling from his neck down to his well-shaped chest. His face was all flushed up from his own pleasure and that was really much of a turn on for Shinichi who couldn't bring himself to stop what Kaito was doing to him.

But then again Shinichi remembered about his family, friends and especially Ran. What would his mother say when she learns what her two boys did between the sheets? And his father was going to kill him in an instance. Not that Kaito was going to allow that… And his friends would be far beyond disgusted. And Ran? She did so much to make him love her and now he couldn't betray her like that. It took him all his willpower but Shinichi managed to push Kaito off of him.

"No this is wrong!" He stated and tried to get up but he was snatched back on the futon. The hot body that belonged to his brother sat on top of him again and pressed against him so much that it hurt, in a pleasurable way though.

"You." Kaito started as leaned closer to Shinichi grasping his wrists above his head forcefully. "Are." He went on as he traced his fingertips against Shinichi's exposed chest teasing his nipple lightly. "Not Going." He travelled even lower to Shinichi's belt and snatched it open. "_Anywhere."_ Shinichi tensed up. He tried to make Kaito let go of him but to no avail. His brother was too strong.

After not even a minute Shinichi was naked as a newborn and blushing deeply. Not because of the nudity, he was used to being naked in front of his friends and even Kaito but because of his hard cock that was twitching slightly begging for attention. A devious smile was plastered on Kaito's face as he saw how badly his brother wanted him and he licked his lips erotically which made Shinichi tremble wit desire. Kaito managed to tie his hands above his head and he was unable to move much.

The elder twin knew how to use his now free hands. One of hands he used to touch his chest in a provocative way to seduce Shinichi and his other hand he used to tease him even more. He wrapped his delicate fingers around Shinichi's member and made him hiss with pleasure. Kaito chuckled happy with the sound he made his brother let out.

"S-stop!"

"NO!" Kaito yelled angrily and leaned close to Shinichi. His hair fell like a certain hiding any light for Shinichi. Kaito licked his twin's lips and kissed him softly but soon clashed their lips together but his hand never stopped teasing Shinichi's manhood. Eventually he responded to the kiss. Kaito offered him not only his lips but his neck too, and his chest, and his abdomen. Shinichi was beginning to think that he wanted him to suck him or something but that was not it. When they reached almost _there,_Kaito went back to sit on Shinichi's waist which made the younger twin tilt his head back with the building pleasure. It felt so good, yet so wrong…

And Kaito got up. Shinichi frowned. Was he about to leave him like this? Oh jeez Kaito was so weird and evil. But didn't he want just that? To be left alone? It seemed that the real answer was no. He wanted what Kaito was about to do. But why did he get up then? The reason soon became apparent when Kaito removed his underwear. So he was not stopping. _Good thing._

If only a look can make you come the look on Kaito's face was able to make you come a hundred times in just a minute. Slowly he went back to his old position. Shinichi was a little frustrated. Kaito's yukata was still available if you could say that considering that it was barely there but it was still covering his most private parts and Shinichi was _so damn curious._

Those thoughts were hurriedly forgotten though when Kaito grabbed Shinichi's member positioning it. Realization downed at him and he started squirming and begging Kaito to let go but he was ignored in the full sense of the word. Kaito kept on pushed the head of his brother's member inside of him. He tilted his head aback from the slight pain but the pleasure got him going.

Shinichi's eyes shot widely open when his brother tightened around him. It felt so good that it hurt. It was like he was set on fire. He felt so hot that he started sweating. He could feel how his cock was leaking with pre-cum announcing how good it felt. He opened his mouth to get some air but it was an impossible task. All he could do was gasp for air and pant from time to time. His whole body was shaking. Kaito's face was a mixture of pain and pleasure and it was bringing Shinichi even closer to the edge and he felt how his balls were tightening and when _it_was all the way in he was ready to scream and join in but Kaito was holding him back obviously trying to adjust. Those few seconds were pure agony to the younger twin. Finally Kaito moved up _ever so slowly_ that it made Shinichi scream his name. He was doing the best he could not to come but it was too big of a challenge and when Kaito slid down again, quicker this time, it was more than he could take and screamed as he came _so hard_. Kaito moaned too when he felt his brother filling him in but he let a frustrated groan right after.

"Sorry I can't allow you come that fast and leave me like this." He got up from his position and attacked Shinichi's half hard member with deep licks. He could feel how he was getting harder with every hundredth. If the ecstasy wasn't that huge he was going to be really ashamed of what his brother was doing to him but right now all he could think of was how much he wanted to grab the silken softness that was tickling his sides gently.

After not more than two minutes Kaito sat up observing proudly what he managed to turn back to life and went back to the position they were not so long ago. This time it didn't take that long for Kaito to adjust and he started technically _riding_his brother so wildly that they were both screaming the hell out of their lungs. Moans, screams, scratching, saliva… so much pleasure. They couldn't get enough. The other part of the world was forgotten. Nothing mattered now. It was just the two of them and the building pleasure. It was only them and no one else – no Kuroba's, no friends, no fiancés, no one, just them and the sick, perverted, kinky, exhausting pleasure pumping. Kaito set Shinichi's hands free and they began dancing a wild dance no one can repeat or understand. It was intense, it was erotic, it was frustrating, it was endless, it was beyond human's mind. It was beautiful and it was loving behind all that. With every touch, every small kiss, with every moan, with every whisper… _I love you, I need you._

_**You are mine.**_

_**No one can have you but me… only me, because:**_

_**YOU ARE MINE!**_

A dark head observedall that happened fulfilling her sick desires. She was certainly happy her plan had worked. The said tea definitely did its job but wasn't it world's greatest aphrodisiac in the world? But apparently she was right that the crazy magician was going to seek pleasure in his brother's chamber.

She chuckled lightly. "I hope that in the morning you will realize what you are realizing right now…"

* * *

><p>Waaaaah see ... I told you ..it's one of my failed attempts at writing YAOI.<p>

hahaha .. please gimme your feedbacks ... pwease ...

~lex


	24. Chapter 24

Sorry for the long wait fellas!

Thank You so much for all the reviews [positive|negative|constructive criticism]. I loved it so much!

Thank you for adding me to your subscription|favorites|etcetera|etcetera .. but I would prefer review peeps! :)

Disclaimer: DC|MK|KAI|SHIN|IS|NOT|MINE[UNFORTUNATELY] - I guess that's pretty obvious since this is a fanfiction site :)

note:

"text" - dialogue

'text' - thoughts

- - change of POV

* * *

><p><strong>TWENTY-THREE<strong>

_'It's a funny thing, but when a guy asks for your hand in marriage, he wants to hear the actual word yes escape from your lips._

_For him, that's the moment when he can celebrate. The longer you sit there speechless, the quicker he'll go into a panic. So say yes, aloud, and then you can start to hyperventilate with joy._

_JANIS SPINDEL, How to Date Men_

**oOo**

"Kaito!"

His name was a rough, shaken sound in Shinichi's throat and for just the space of a single heartbeat as he felt Shin stiffen, muscles tautening, he feared the latter was going to draw back, push him away. But then his whole mood changed, Shinichi's lips softening against him, arms enfolding him in a new and very different way as Shinichi gathered him close and returned kiss for kiss, Shin's hands lacing into his messy hair to cup his face and hold Kaito just where he wanted him. Where his hungry mouth could have the most devastating effect.

For several long, heated moments they were oblivious to the storm that raged around them, only aware of the storm of sensation that was building up inside. But then on a long, low moan, another wilder, blistering cold flurry of hail whirl round them, lifting their hair on their heads, making their coats fly up around them and slowly, reluctantly, Shinichi lifted his head, drew back.

"No..." Kaito muttered a protest, reaching for him again, still with his eyes half-closed.

"Kai," Shinichi reproved softly, "we will freeze if we stay out here."

'Freeze?' In the privacy of his own thoughts, Kaito questioned the truth of his comment. He had never felt so hot in his life, so bone-deep, his blood pounding, totally warm from the inside out, and even the twirling wind and the lashing rain having no effect on him.

"No..." he murmured again and felt rather than saw the shake of Shinichi's head as he heard the low laughter that escaped him.

"Yes, darling- you are already soaked... We must make our way back to the house."

_Darling, _Kaito registered. Shinichi had used that word before but on a blackly ironical note. Now suddenly his tone seemed to have softened, almost as if he meant it, as if he was concerned by Kaito's reaction. As if he truly was calling Kaito _darling..._ His head was spinning with the delight of it.

"Then let's go back." The thickness in Kaito's throat made the words as huskily provocative as he planned them to be. "And get warm."

Was Kaito's heart really thundering hard as heavily as it seemed?

Or was that just the sound of the wind sending heavy branches thudding to the ground or the rain pounding on the cottage roof? Kaito didn't know or care. His only thought was to get back to the cottage, to close the door on the world and shut himself in with Shinichi so that they could be alone together.

He was not even sure if he was walking, if his feet were actually touching the ground as they hurried towards the tiny house. Shinichi had held Kaito close to his side, his grip around Kaito's waist so tight that he was sure he was carrying him part of the way rather than letting him manage it himself.

And in the moment that they stumbled through the front door Shinichi caught Kaito to him and crushed the other's mouth with him before he swung him up into his arms as he had done on the night of the wedding and carried him into the hall, kicking the door behind him as he headed for the stairs.

"First on the left..." Kaito managed against his neck, the slightly salty taste of his skin making his heart skip a couple of ragged beats as he savored it against his tongue.

'Hai..."

Kaito's room was dark and shadowy but the curtains were still open at the window and the moon gave enough light for Shinichi to see his way to the bed, taking Kaito with him and tumbling him gently down unto the covers. But when Kaito reached for Shinichi to pull him down with him, Shinichi pulled away from him and turned away.

"Shinichi!"

It was a cry of protest and distress, the loss the heat of Shinichi's body too much to bear.

"What..." Kaito trailed off.

"I was looking for a towel..." the roughness of Shinichi's voice told clearly of the struggle he too was having for control. "You need to dry your..."

"I need no such thing!"

It was impossible to tell if Kaito was breathless with laughter, with the cold, or with the deep frustration of the need that was eating away at him.

"Shinichi, all I need is you! You can warm me best!" [**aaaarrrghh! cheezy hahaha. ooopss sorry .. read on ...**]

For a second Kaito thought that he was going to have to get up and drag Shinichi unto the bed with him but before he could move, Shinichi had swung round again, flinging off his coat and throwing it down to the floor in the same moment as he came down beside Kaito, gathering him up into his arms once more.

If Kaito had ever been cold, then he couldn't remember it now. His whole body was on fire, burning up with need and the heated arousal Shinichi's touch woke up in that heat did not fade as Shinichi stripped Kaito's clothes from him, hungry fingers occasionally fumbling with uncharacteristic clumsiness as he dealt with buttons and zips.

The truth was that every touch of Shinichi's hands, every brush of his fingertips against Kaito's skin made Kaito's pulse kick up another notch, sending more blood throbbing in his veins, molten and hungry,a yearning desire uncoiling low down in Kaito's body,making him damp with pre-cum and aching between his legs.

Kaito's mouth clamped to Shinichi's, Kaito's own fingers were rough with need as he tugged at Shinichi's shirt, sighing his satisfaction as he shrugged it off and tossed it aside. At last Kaito could trail his fingers over the heated satin of Shinichi's skin, tangle his fingers in the soft crispness of Shinichi's hair, inhale the musky scent of his body, a perfume so heady and intoxicating the it made Kaito feel close to swooning in heavy, erotic pleasure.

"I want you," he muttered against Shinichi's chest, letting his tongue slide out and taste him, circling the small nub of his nipple, feeling it harden underneath Kaito's kisses.

"Oh dear heaven, Shinichi, how I..."

The words broke off on a long gasping moan of pleasure as Shinichi matched Kaito's caresses with his own. Taking his chest in one hand, Shinichi stroked them slicking his tongue across the yearning, sensitive tip, then blowing softly on the moistened bud, sending stinging, tingling sensations narrowing along every nerve, tugging at the most sensitive spot at the juncture of Kaito's thighs.

Kaito's jeans felt roughly constricting, far too tight, so that he moved restlessly on the plain white quilt, brushing his slowly growing erection against the swollen, heated evidence of Shinichi's desire until Shinichi groaned a hungry response.

"You witch!" Shinichi muttered thickly. "Tormentor..."

But even as he spoke he was freeing Kaito from the confinements of his clothes, smoothing his hands along the slender lines of Kaito's legs, over the harness between his inner thighs, caressing Kaito intimately.

"Shinichi..."

Shinichi's name was a sigh of surrender and need and Kaito opened himself up to him, clutching his hands in Shinichi's hair and arching his back so that his chest was crushed against the hard wall of Shinichi's chest, Kaito's legs tangling with Shinichi's.

But it still wasn't enough; he needed more. Needed all of him, all of his possession. But the buckle of Shinichi's belt seemed agonizingly stiff, resisting Kaito's attempts to tug it loose, bruising his fingers in frustrating resistance.

Kaito was close to tears of exasperation when Shinichi's hands came over his, stilling his restless movements.

"Let me..." he muttered, Shinichi's voice raw with a need that matched Kaito's own, his movements every bit as urgent and as impatient as Kaito's had been.

But from the moment that Kaito felt the heat of Shinichi's flesh against him he suddenly wanted to slow everything down. He still felt every bit as hungry as before, more so, if that was possible, but in the instant that he felt the warm velvet-over-steel sensation of Shinichi's erection nudging at his entrance he was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that it would never be this way again. Not the first time they had come together, but...

The first time they had made love.

* * *

><p>let's cut it right there:) I know it's pretty short but holly cow!<p>

I finally updated it.

I'm soooo sorry people. I just really had a hard time choosing the right words and the right reactions from each of them.

Please tell me what you think about it.

It ain't done yet of course! Shin-chan had yet to fall in looooove :)

So please... hit on review button and tell me what you think.

By the way, I'm sorry for posting the 'yaoi' story here:)

I really intended to compare ...

love you guys...

~alex


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